The ocean’s boundless mystery and ever-changing beauty inspires artists, poets, and dreamers, serving as an eternal muse for creative expression. Yet, many phenomena in the ocean still puzzle scientists. In this talk we embark on a journey to appreciate how the ocean’s motion gives rise to mesmerising patterns: a complex network of ocean currents accompanied by swirling, turbulent eddies that move heat, carbon, and salt around the globe. We’ll dive in and understand how the ocean’s complicated and inspiring motions shape and regulate the global climate. With that in mind, we’ll discuss then the ocean’s role in our changing climate.
Presented by Dr. Navid Constantinou
This lecture forms part of the 2024 JULY LECTURES IN PHYSICS
A series of free public lectures exploring physics: from the most fundamental questions to its influence in society.
Physics and Sustainable Development
Scientists, politicians, and communities alike recognise the imperative to bridge scientific disciplines and forms of knowledge to address the complex challenges of our time. In this years lecture series, we ask what role physics has in meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development goals. Coinciding with the first year of the UN International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development, these lectures will explore the intersection between physics and sustainable development: from climate action to affordable and clean energy, education to gender equality and beyond.
Dr. Navid Constantinou
Navid grew up in Lefkosia, Cyprus and studied physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (BSc, MSc, PhD). After obtaining his PhD in 2015, he was awarded a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral fellowship to work at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. At 2018, Navid moved to the Australian National University first as a Research Fellow (2018-2021) and then as an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellow (2021-2024). In June 2024 he joined the School of Geography Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Melbourne as a Senior Lecturer.
Navid studies turbulent flows. His research focuses on how the ocean’s small-scale turbulent motions affect the large-scale ocean circulation and the Earth’s climate. In parallel, he is very passionate about scientific computing and climate model development. Navid is one of the core developers of the ocean dynamical core of the new Earth System Model developed by the Climate Modelling Alliance. He is also very passionate about open-source software and reproducibility practices. His favourite planet other than ours is Jupiter. Besides research and coding, he enjoys surfing
