Group history

The Climate & Fluid Physics Group began as the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (GFD) Group in 1975 under the leadership of Prof. Stewart Turner. Prof. Turner was recruited from Cambridge University, shortly after the foundation of the current RSES, and built a laboratory to study the fluid mechanics of the Earth.

Prof. Ross Griffiths assumed leadership of GFD in 1995, constructing a new modern facility, the current Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in the Jaeger 7 building, in 2001. Prof. Griffiths retired at the end of 2014, and was succeeded by Prof. Andy Hogg.

Over the last 40 years, our research portfolio has included ocean circulation and modeling, stratified turbulence and mixing, volcanoes, lava flows, mantle dynamics, magma chambers and ice-ocean interaction.

The GFD group changed its name to Climate & Fluid Physics in 2017. See the alumni page for past group members.

Continuing Academic Staff

Stewart Turner (1975-1994)

Ross Griffiths (1978-2014)

Ross Kerr (1989-2017)

Geoff Davies (1992-2009)

Andy Hogg (2004 - present)

Michael Roderick (2006 - 2020)

Callum Shakespeare (2018 - present)

Adele Morrison (2023-present)

PhD Students

Student Year PhD Topic Career
R. W. Griffiths 1976-78 Transport through double-diffusive interfaces in thermohaline convection Cambridge University, University of Grenoble, ANU
A.M. Leitch 1981-85 Laboratory models of magma chambers evolving due to side-wall crystallization Cambridge University, ANU, Old Dominion University
J.R. Taylor 1983-85 Double-diffusive layers and intrusions University of Western Australia, UNSW - Australian Defence Force Academy
M.C. Gurnis 1985-87          Stirring of heterogeneities in the Earth’s mantle University of Michigan, California Institute of Technology
S.A. Condie 1986-88 Convection in a rotating cavity Old Dominion University, University of Washington, CSIRO
Daniel Martin 1986-88 Fractional crystallization in convecting magma chambers McMillan publishers
A.P. Stamp 1990-93 Wave-convection coupling in double-diffusive systems University of Washington, McKinsey & Co
P.A. Hutchinson 1991-94 The effects of wind waves on stirring of micro-organisms in lakes and billabongs CSIRO
T.K.P. Gregg 1992-95 Modelling of lava flows on sloping topography Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
A.B.D. Wong 1995-98 Stratification produced by turbulent plumes from multiple sources of buoyancy, with applications to oceanic thermohaline circulation Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (deceased)
A.M. Jellinek 1995-99 Mixing by natural convection including the effects of viscosity differences University of California, Berkeley, University of British Columbia
Damien Bright 1995-00 Modelling of fully nonlinear atmospheric waves with internal gravity wave damping University of Adelaide
A.E. Kiss 1995-00 Dynamics of laboratory models of wind-driven ocean circulation UNSW - Australian Defence Force Academy, ANU
Lynn Bloomfield 1996-00 Turbulent mixing in stratified fluids IP Australia
M.G. Wells 1997-01 Internal mixing due to intermittent turbulence and salt-fingers Yale, University of Toronto
David Osmond 1997-02 Ocean convection due to Ekman layer transport across fronts WindLab Systems
Julia Mullarney 2001-04 Convection models for the meridional overturning circulation Dalhousie University, University of Waikato
Aaron Lyman 2002-06 Effects of rheology on channel flows Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, NZ
Tjipto Prastowo 2004-08 Mixing in buoyancy-driven exchange flows University of Surabaya
Melissa Coman 2004-08 Convection driven by lateral temperature differences University of Toronto, IP Australia
Melanie O’Byrne 2005-09 Wake flows with incident disturbances  IP Australia
Jesse Robertson 2008-12 Rheological controls on the dynamics of channeled lava flows CSIRO
Kial Stewart 2008-11 Effects of topographic sills on convective overturning circulation John Hopkins, UNSW, ANU
Adele Morrison 2009-13 Response of the Southern Ocean circulation to changes in global climate  Princeton University, ANU
Chris Chapman 2010-13 The Interaction of Jets and Eddies with Topography in the Southern Ocean  IPSL, CSIRO
Isa Rosso 2011-14 Sub-mesoscale Dynamics in the Southern Ocean  Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Kate Snow 2012-15 Antarctic Bottom Water response to Varying Surface Fluxes  University of Edinburgh, National Computational Infrastructure
Catherine Vreugdenhil 2013-17 Interactions of convection and geostrophic circulation University of Cambridge, University of Melbourne
Craig McConnochie 2013-16 Experiments on the interaction of ice sheets with the polar oceans Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of Canterbury
Alice Barthel 2013-17 Southern Ocean jet-topography interactions and their impact on eddy fluxes Los Alamos National Laboratory
Mainak Mondal 2015-18 Melting of ice sheets UTas, NYU Abu Dhabi
Angus Gibson 2015-19 Numerical methods for ocean models Australian National University
Taimoor Sohail 2016-19 Turbulence and convection in Southern Ocean circulation University of New South Wales
Josué Martínez Moreno 2017-21 Global changes in mesoscale currents and coherent eddies from satellite altimetry IFREMER