J. Stewart TURNER

Emeritus Professor and Visiting Fellow

Research School of Earth Sciences

Research Interests:

 Dynamical processes in the atmosphere, the ocean and the solid earth. These have been studied using small-scale laboratory experiments and associated theoretical models to understand the basic physics and dynamics of natural phenomena. Topics of special interest are convection and mixing, especially in stably stratified fluids.

Academic Qualifications:

1952 B.Sc. University of Sydney. First Class honours in Theoretical Physics, University Medal and John Coutts Scholarship.

1953 M.Sc. University of Sydney. Research Studentship of the University of Sydney, thesis on nuclear scattering.

1957 Ph.D. University of Cambridge. Thesis entitled "Dynamical aspects of cloud physics", under the supervision of Dr A.A. Townsend and Sir Geoffrey Taylor.

Previous Appointments

1953-54 and 1960-62: CSIRO Division of Radiophysics, Sydney. Research Officer, then Senior Research Scientist in the Cloud Physics group.

1958-59: University of Manchester. Postdoctoral research post in the Department of the Mechanics of Fluids.

1962-66: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Rossby Fellow, then Associate Scientist in the Theoretical Oceanography Department. Between 1966-1974, invited back regularly as a Visiting Investigator.

1966-75: University of Cambridge. Assistant Director of Research in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, at first supported by a grant from the British Admiralty (1966-70) and then on the University staff (1970-73). Appointed in 1973 to an ad hominem Readership.

1974: Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge.

1985: Overseas Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge.

1990 Green Scholar, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UCSD

1993: Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar, Calif. Inst. of Technology.

Academic Awards and Distinctions

1953: Awarded 1851 Exhibition Overseas Scholarship

1979: Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science

1982: Fellow of the Royal Society of London

1990: Matthew Flinders Lecture and Medal, Australian Academy of Science

1999 - 2000: University Fellow, ANU

Membership of Learned Societies

Royal Meteorological Society (Fellow, 1958)

Institute of Physics (Fellow, 1969)

Australian Academy of Science (elected FAA, 1979)

Australian Institute of Physics (Fellow, 1980)

Royal Society of London (elected FRS, 1982)

Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society

Publications - summary

1 book : 'Buoyancy Effects in Fluids', CUP 1973(+ Russian translation and paperback edition)

8 book chapters, invited contributions

114 refereed journal publications

21 published conference papers and reports

Recent Publications

Turner, J.S. 1995. The influence of laboratory experiments on the development of geophysical fluid dynamics. Inaugural G.K. Batchelor Lecture, Proc. 12th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Sydney, Vol. 1, pp 1 - 12.

Turner, J.S. 1995. Henry Stommel's research on small scale processes: examples of his influential collaborative style. In: Collected Works of Henry Stommel, Vol. III, eds N.G. Hogg and R.X. Huang, pp 203 - 205. Amer. Meteorological Society, Boston.

Kerr, R.C. and Turner, J.S. 1996. Crystallization and gravitationally controlled ponding during the formation of mound springs, terraces and "black smoker" flanges. J. Geophys. Res., 101, 25125 -25137.

Turner, J.S. 1997. G.I. Taylor in his later years. Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech., 29, 1 - 25.

Griffiths, R.W. and Turner, J.S. 1998. Understanding mantle dynamics through mathematical models and laboratory experiments. In: The Earth's Mantle: Composition, Structure, and Evolution, Ed. Ian Jackson, pp 191-227. Cambridge University Press.

Turner, J.S. 1998. Heating and evaporation on a shelf. Proc. 13th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Monash University, Vol. 2, pp 867-870.

Turner, J.S. 1998. Stratification and circulation produced by heating and evaporation on a shelf. J. Marine Res., 56, 1-20.

Anschutz, P., Turner, J.S. and Blanc, G. 1998. The development of layering, fluxes through double-diffusive interfaces, and location of hydrothermal sources of brines in the Atlantis II Deep: Red Sea. J. Geophys. Res., 103, 27,809-27,819.

Wells, M.G., Griffiths, R.W. and Turner, J.S. 1999. Competition between distributed and localised buoyancy fluxes in a confined volume. J. Fluid Mech., 391, 319-336.

Ruddick, B.R., Phillips, O.M. and Turner, J.S. 1999. A laboratory and quantitative model of finite-amplitude thermohaline intrusions. Dyn Atmos Oceans, 30, 71-99. (Special Issue on 'Laboratory Experiments in Physical Oceanography',)

Turner, J.S. and Veronis, G. 2000. Laboratory studies of double-diffusive sources in closed regions. J. Fluid Mech., 405, 269-304.

Turner, J.S. 2000. Development of geophysical fluid dynamics: The influence of laboratory experiments. ‘Retrospective’ article in Appl. Mech. Rev., 53, R11-R22.

Turner, J.S. 2000. Laboratory models of double-diffusive sources in closed regions: the production of stratification and large-scale circulations. Proc 5^th International Symposium on Stratified Flows, pp.711-716, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.

Linden, P.F. and Turner, J.S. 2001. The formation of 'optimal' vortex rings, and the efficiency of propulsion devices. J. Fluid Mech., 427, 61-72.

Wells, M.G., Griffiths, R.W. and Turner, J.S. 2001. Generation of density fine structure by salt fingers in a spatially periodic shear. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 7027-7037.

Turner, J.S. 2001. Double-diffusive plumes in a homogeneous environment. Proc. 14^th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide University.

Turner, J.S. 2003. Vertical transports produced by double-diffusive plumes in a confined homogeneous environment. J. Fluid Mech., 493, 131-149.

Turner, J.S. and Veronis, G. 2003. The influence of double-diffusive processes on the melting of ice in the Arctic Ocean: laboratory analogue experiments and their interpretation. J. Marine Systems (In press).

Linden, P.F. and Turner, J.S. 2003. ‘Optimal’ vortex rings and aquatic propulsion mechanisms . Proc. Roy. Soc. B (In press).

Special Invited Lectures since 1975

1975 Plenary Lecture: 'Double-diffusive processes in fluids', XVIth Congress, International Association for Hydraulic Research, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

1977 Opening Plenary Lecture, 2nd Australasian Conference on Heat and Mass Tranfer, Sydney.

1979 Invited review, 2nd International Symposium on Ocean Turbulence, Liege, Belgium.

1980 Invited speaker at the Symposium on the Future of Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 50th Anniversary Celebrations, Mass., USA.

1982 Invited paper at the Joint Oceanographic Assembly, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

1983 Opening review paper at Engineering Foundation Conference on Double-Diffusive Convection, Santa Barbara, California, USA.

1985 Series of invited lectures as the Thermofluids Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.

1985 Ernst Cloos Memorial Lecturer at Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.

1985 The Royal Institution, London, England: Friday Evening Discourse on 'Models of Oceans and Volcanoes'.

1986 Opening address at Conference on Air-Sea Interaction, University of Sydney.

Invited paper at IUTAM Symposium on 'Fluid Mechanics in the Spirit of G.I. Taylor' Cambridge, England.

1990 Invited review at 'Pacific Rim 90' Conference, Gold Coast.

1990 Introductory Lecture at IUTAM Conference on 'Fluid Mechanics of Stirring and Mixing', La Jolla, California, USA.

1992 Two invited lectures in seminar series: 'Plumes and Jets in Planetary Systems', Oceanography Department, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.

1993 Opening Keynote address at Chapman Conference on Double-Diffusive Convection, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.

1994 Invited Lecturer, National Summer School on Geophysical and Environmental Fluid Dynamics, University of Cambridge, England.

1995 Inaugural G.K. Batchelor Lecture on: 'The Influence of Laboratory Experiments on the Development of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics', at the 12th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, University of Sydney.

1996 Two invited lectures at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Summer School, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Mass., USA.

1997 Opening lecturer, Symposium on 'Dynamical Complexity in Geophysical Fluids', IAMAS-IAPSO Assembly, Melbourne.

1998 Invited Lecturer, Conference on Environmental Fluid Mechanics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.