2008 Chairman's Award for Career Achievement

Dr. Christopher Garrett

Lansdowne Professor of Ocean Physics, Department of Physics & Astronomy, UVic

Dr. Christopher Garrett is a world-renown physical oceanographer at the University of Victoria (UVic) with an exceptional scientific mind and ardent desire to protect and improve the health of the world's coastal areas. Garrett's research centers around physical oceanography, with an emphasis on mixing processes which crucially affect ocean circulation and climate. His body of work contributes to the accuracy of climate-change models and addresses the problems in marine productivity and pollution, tidal power, and oceanic waste disposal. As a fluid dynamicist, Garrett is known for his contributions in addressing practical problems, most often connected with tidal power in British Columbia, Nova Scotia and the Atlantic coast. He is a researcher and dedicated educator and citizen, working with an honest desire to challenge the conventional wisdom. With many awards and recognitions to his name, Garrett describes his passion, physical oceanography, as a "wonderful combination of intellectual challenge and society relevance".

Work and Achievements

His recent research has also included studies of semi-enclosed seas which are subject to rapid change and can be used as test basins for physical oceanographic questions of global relevance.

  • Scientific interests focus on theoretical fluid dynamics of the ocean.
  • Developed numerous theories of tides and the mixing process prevalent to ocean circulation and oceanic stirring.
  • He is a fluid dynamicist with an understanding of fluids of all kinds, collaborating with Walter Munk to pioneer the Garrett-Munk spectrum of internal waves.
  • Over the last 40 years, he has published in top journals discussing physical sciences, including oceanography, fluid mechanics and renewable energy.
  • Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London (1993).
  • Henry Stommel Research Award, American Meteorological Society (2001).
  • Elected Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (2006).

Acclaim

"Insightful and infinitely practical in his work, Dr. Chris Garrett possesses an exceptional scientific mind and an ardent desire to protect and improve the health of the world's coastal areas."
- Dr. David Turpin, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Victoria

“He is, without argument, the most distinguished physical oceanographer in Canada today and has had a wide influence on much of the subject internationally.”
- Dr. Carl Wunsch, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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