Sarah Gille is a physical oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography known for her research on the role of the Southern Ocean in the global climate system.

Sarah Tragler Gille
Academic background
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D.)
ThesisDynamics of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: Evidence for Topographic Effects from Altimeter Data and Numerical Model Output (1995)
Doctoral advisorKathryn A. Kelly
Academic work
DisciplineOceanography
Sub-disciplinePhysical oceanography of the Southern Ocean
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Irvine;
University of California, San Diego;
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Notable worksAffiliations/publications with the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) and Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES) programs
Websitesgille.scrippsprofiles.ucsd.edu

Early life and education

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The daughter of John Gille and Ellen Fetter Gille, Sarah Gille earned an undergraduate B.S. from Yale University in 1988, and a Ph.D. in 1995 in a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program.[1][2] Her Ph.D. research used satellites to measured spatial and temporal variability in sea surface heights in the Southern Ocean, including modeling of those data.[3][4][5][non-primary source needed]

After her doctoral work, Gille trained further as a postdoctoral investigator at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of East Anglia.[1][when?]

Career

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Gille then accepted a faculty position at the University of California, Irvine.[1][when?] In 2000 she moved back to the University of California, San Diego where, as of 2024 she is jointly affiliated with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.[1][6]

In 2024, Gille was part of a committee which worked on a climate change program for students at UC San Diego.[7]

Research

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Gille's research centers on the Southern Ocean where she works on air-sea exchange and historical changes in climate in the region. Gille uses floats to study the movement of water masses in the Southern Ocean,[8] and combined data from the 1990s in the Southern Ocean with historical data to identify warming at mid-depths that was concentrated within the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.[9] Gille's research includes measuring winds from space using the QuickSCAT platform,[10] and assimilating tracer and float data from the Southern Ocean into global models.[11]

As of December 2021, Gilles remained a principal investigator of the historically NSF-funded "Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean" (DIMES), a field program of the United States and the United Kingdom to measure isopycnal (horizontal) and diapycnal (vertical) mixing of the waters of the Southern Ocean, along with studying the tilting isopycnals of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.[12][13][14] "Tilting isopycnals" refer to oceanic water masses with the same density that tilt or slope with depth. In the ocean, the density of water changes due to variations in temperature and salinity, leading to the formation of surfaces of constant density, known as isopycnals. Tilting isopycnals indicate a change in the density structure of the ocean and can have an impact on ocean circulation and the transport of heat, salt, and other properties.[15] As of December 2021, Gilles was also a Process Studies investigator at the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling project (SOCCOM), which aims to characterise the Southern Ocean's influence on global climate.[16] SOCCOM is based in the High Meadows Environmental Institute (previously the Princeton Environmental Institute) at Princeton University and funded by the National Science Foundation.[17]

Selected publications

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At the end of 2024, she had an h-index of 46.[18]

Selected awards and honors

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While in graduate school, Gille received the 1995 Carl-Gustav Rossby Award of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[19] In 2000, as a faculty member, she received the Zeldovich Award from the Committee on Space Research and the Russian Academy of Sciences.[20]

In 2021, Gille was recipient of the Sverdrup Gold Medal of the American Meteorological Society.[21]

Gille was named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 2015,[22] and of the American Meteorological Society in 2021.[21] The 2015 AGU announcement cited her "for exceptional contributions to advancing the understanding of the dynamics of the Southern Ocean and its role in the climate system".[22]

Further reading

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  • Bindoff, Nathaniel L. (2018). "Climate Change: Warming and Freshening Trends". Nature Geoscience. 11: 803–804. doi:10.1038/s41561-018-0239-9. S2CID 133778017. Retrieved 14 December 2021. Prof. Bindoff, Physical Oceanography, University of Tasmania and a Chief Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence in Climate System Science, comments that the Swart et al. (2018) study estimates the relative importance of the various factors factor contributing to Southern Ocean change, and that it is the first to do so.
  • Freedman, Andrew (28 September 2018). "Energy & Environment: Scientists Solve a Southern Ocean Climate Change Mystery". Axios.com. Retrieved 14 December 2021. Mr Freedman presents a popular account of the Swart et al. (2018) study, providing comments by Gille, and independent comments from non-participant Bindoff (see above).
  • The Alliance of International Science Organizations (13 December 2021). "GSF: Global Scientific and Technological Cooperation Still Mainstream" (press release). PRNewsWire.com. Retrieved 14 December 2021. [Notes] Sarah Gille, physical oceanographer of Scripps Institution of Oceanography... [as] Sverdrup Gold Medal Winner of American Meteorological Society (2021).

References

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  1. ^ a b c d NASA website, Center for Climate Sciences: Advisory Board, retrieved 27 November 2024
  2. ^ Gille, Sarah Tragler (1995). Dynamics of the Antarctic circumpolar current : evidence for topographic effects from altimeter data and numerical model output (Ph. D. thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/53002.
  3. ^ Gille, Sarah T.; Kelly, Kathryn A. (1996). "Scales of spatial and temporal variability in the Southern Ocean". Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 101 (C4): 8759–8773. Bibcode:1996JGR...101.8759G. doi:10.1029/96JC00203. ISSN 2156-2202.
  4. ^ Gille, Sarah T. (1994). "Mean sea surface height of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current from Geosat data: Method and application". Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 99 (C9): 18255–18273. Bibcode:1994JGR....9918255G. doi:10.1029/94JC01172. ISSN 2156-2202.
  5. ^ Gille, Sarah T. (1997-10-01). "The Southern Ocean Momentum Balance: Evidence for Topographic Effects from Numerical Model Output and Altimeter Data". Journal of Physical Oceanography. 27 (10): 2219–2232. Bibcode:1997JPO....27.2219G. doi:10.1175/1520-0485(1997)027<2219:TSOMBE>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3670. S2CID 16013209.
  6. ^ Gille, Sarah (2 August 2021). "Biography". SGille.ScrippsProfiles.UCSD.edu. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  7. ^ Guardian website, A US university has a new requirement to graduate: take a climate change course, article by Katharine Gammon dated 15 October 2024
  8. ^ Gille, Sarah T. (2003-06-01). "Float Observations of the Southern Ocean. Part I: Estimating Mean Fields, Bottom Velocities, and Topographic Steering". Journal of Physical Oceanography. 33 (6): 1167–1181. Bibcode:2003JPO....33.1167G. doi:10.1175/1520-0485(2003)033<1167:FOOTSO>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3670. S2CID 14835147.
  9. ^ Gille, S. T. (2002-02-15). "Warming of the Southern Ocean Since the 1950s". Science. 295 (5558): 1275–1277. Bibcode:2002Sci...295.1275G. doi:10.1126/science.1065863. PMID 11847337. S2CID 31434936.
  10. ^ Gille, Sarah T.; Smith, Stefan G. Llewellyn; Lee, Shira M. (2003). "Measuring the sea breeze from QuikSCAT Scatterometry". Geophysical Research Letters. 30 (3): 1114. Bibcode:2003GeoRL..30.1114G. doi:10.1029/2002GL016230. ISSN 1944-8007.
  11. ^ Wolchover, Natalie (2013-04-11). "Scientists Parse Ocean's Dynamic Role in Climate Change". Quanta Magazine. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  12. ^ DIMES Staff (14 December 2021). "[DIMES] Experimental Overview". DIMES.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 14 December 2021. See also the People tab at this web citation.
  13. ^ AMS Staff and Gille, Sarah T.; Ferrari, Raffaele; Ledwell, James R. & Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. (14 December 2021). "The Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES)". Journals.AMetSoc.org. Retrieved 14 December 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ NSF Staff and Ledwell, James R.; Toole, John & St Laurent, Louis (31 August 2017). "Abstract # 1232962: Studies of Turbulence and Mixing in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, a Continuation of DIMES". NSF.gov. Retrieved 14 December 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Jones, Daniel C.; Ito, Takamitsu; Birner, Thomas; Klocker, Andreas; Munday, David (2015-12-01). "Planetary-Geometric Constraints on Isopycnal Slope in the Southern Ocean". Journal of Physical Oceanography. 45 (12): 2991–3004. doi:10.1175/JPO-D-15-0034.1. ISSN 0022-3670. S2CID 131045258.
  16. ^ SOCCOM Staff (14 December 2021). "[SOCCOM] Overview". SOCCOM.Princeton.edu. Retrieved 14 December 2021. See also the Organizational Chart at this web citation.
  17. ^ "Unlocking the Mysteries of the Southern Ocean". High Meadows Environmental Institute. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  18. ^ Google Scholar website, Sarah T. Gille - Professor, University of California San Diego, retrieved 27 November 2024
  19. ^ "The Carl-Gustaf Rossby Award". paocweb.mit.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  20. ^ "Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) » Zeldovich Medals". cosparhq.cnes.fr. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  21. ^ a b "2021 Awards and Honors Recipients". American Meteorological Society. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  22. ^ a b AGU Staff (2015). "Gille". Honors.AGU.org. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
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