Carl Wunsch
Associate in Physical Oceanography and Climate
I work primarily on determining the global ocean circulation and its contribution to climate and climate change. In both modern and paleoceanographic estimates, a great variety of data types is used in conjunction with models in a statistical/mathematical combination usually called “state estimation”.
Carl Wunsch is Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physical Oceanography, Emeritus, in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was for 10 years Visiting Professor at Harvard, and is now an Associate in Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University.. His degrees are from MIT in Mathematics (S. B., 1962) and in Geophysics (PhD, 1967).
Wunsch’s interests have ranged over much of physical oceanography and its geophysical linkages, including internal waves, tides, the oceanic mesoscale, and mixing processes. In recent years, his interests have been primarily focussed on determining and understanding the general circulation of the ocean and its climate effects, by exploiting the technologies which have evolved in the last two decades, including satellite altimetry, acoustic tomography, tracers, and expendable moorings.
Contact Info
20 Oxford St. Cambridge MA 02138
617-230-5168