Albert Defant Medal awarded to Lothar Stramma
Marine scientist from Kiel recognized for his pioneering work
Even though Dr. Lothar Stramma is originally from Westphalia, he has a long-standing connection to the sea and Kiel. After studying oceanography at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Stramma earned his doctorate at the former Institute of Oceanography with a thesis on water mass distribution in the warm water sphere of the subtropical North Atlantic. After a few research stays abroad, including the University of Rhode Island, he returned to Kiel and has worked primarily on issues of ocean circulation in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic and, over the last few years, on the analysis of the dynamics and changes of tropical oxygen minimum zones. His work is an important contribution to the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 754 "Climate - Biogeochemistry Interactions in the Tropical Ocean" which is funded by the German Research Foundation.
In his speech at the presentation of the Albert Defant Medal, Dr. Hein Dieter Behr of the German Meteorological Society highlighted in particular the more than 70 peer-reviewed scientific papers with more than 2800 citations that impressively show the importance and international visibility of Dr. Stramma’s research. Among his publications are a standard reference article on the regional circulation, and numerous work on oxygen minimum zones, with one of them published in the prestigious journal Science.
"His life's work in physical oceanography and his commitment to integrated marine research across disciplines and nations make him a worthy recipient of the Albert Defant Medal," says Dr. Behr.
Lothar Stramma accepted the award with great pleasure. "I was very surprised and of course delighted when I learned that I was this year’s recipient of the award. It is a very special honor to be following in the footprints of such eminent scientists such as Henry Stommel and Klaus Wyrtki," said Dr. Stramma.
In addition to Lothar Stramma, the Albert Defant Medal had already been awarded to two Kiel oceanographers, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Krauss and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Willebrand.
Background information:
The Albert Defant Medal is awarded to individual scientists who have rendered outstanding contributions to physical oceanography. The award should not be given more frequently than every three years and, if possible, on the occasion of a major scientific meeting of the DMG.
Previous winners were: Prof. Dr. Henry Stommel, Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Roll, Prof. Dr. Klaus Wyrtki, Prof. Pierre Welander, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Krauss, Dr. Ernst Maier-Reimer, Professor Dr. Jürgen Willebrand and Prof. Dr. Dirk Olbers.
For further information:
www.dmg-ev.de/gesellschaft/aktivitaeten/preise_albert_defant.htm
Links:
www.geomar.de GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
www.dmg-ev.de German Meteorological Society
Contact:
Dr. Andreas Villwock (GEOMAR, Communication & Media), Phone: +49-431 600 2802, avillwock(at)geomar.de
