Wolfgang Fennel
SCOR Past President (2012-2016)

Wolfgang Fennel was head of the Department of Physical Oceanography and Instrumentation in the Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research and Professor of Physical Oceanography at the University of Rostock until he retired in 2013 and is now emeritus professor at the institute. He earned his Ph.D. in 1973 from the University of Rostock on the topic of quantum statistics of the electron gas. His career in oceanography began in 1976 at the Institute of Marine Research of the Academy of Science of the German Democratic Republic, where he became involved in theoretical studies of turbulent diffusion in the ocean. Later, he worked on theoretical problems of oceanic waves and forcing of currents, as well as numerical circulation models. Prof. Fennel is also interested in interdisciplinary research and developed biogeochemical and fish models. He has worked as a guest professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden; University of Bergen, Norway; and at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. Wolfgang Fennel has authored many publications in journals and books, and wrote two monographs.

Prof. Fennel served as SCOR Vice President from 1998 to 2002 and SCOR President from 2008 to 2012, and was member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) program from 1998 to 2007. He is co-editor in chief of the Journal of Marine Systems.