Doron Nof

The 2005 Fridtjof Nansen Medal is awarded to Doron Nof in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the understanding of the movement of fluids within the ocean and its relationship to the interaction with the atmosphere above.

Professor Doron Nof is awarded the 2005 Nansen Medal in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the understanding of the movement of fluids within the ocean and its relationship to the interaction with the atmosphere above. With a pioneering and innovative view, Professor Nof always considered the dynamics of the ocean to lie at the heart of global change issues. His early research included studies of flows through straits and passages, boundary current dynamics, upwelling in coastal regions, the dynamics of eddies in the upper and deep ocean, equatorial dynamics, general circulation problems, and cross-equatorial flows. From the early 80’s, by successfully using a variety of complementary approaches, ranging from experimental work to theoretical and numerical modelling, Professor Nof made seminal contributions to the underlying processes shaping the ocean. He identified new physical mechanisms for mesoscale eddy formation and their evolution and interactions with large scale currents. He provided a new dynamical explanation of the parting of the Red Sea, during the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, based on the effects of winds and currents. Recently he also showed that the Three Gorges Dam in China may produce large-scale convection in the Japan Sea and increased air temperatures over Japan.

Professor Nof is an outstanding physical oceanographer who has advanced global fluid dynamics problems with remarkable intuition and elegance and great practical know-how.