B.Sc. Honours ,University of Manitoba, 1966
Ph.D. University of British Columbia, 1970
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, 1991.

Full CV

Full publication List

last updated: Dec.16, 2009

Research Interests

1. Observations of turbulence

In the area of ocean mixing processes, my present work focuses on new observational techniques, suited particularly to the coastal ocean where significant mixing is usually spatially sparse and temporally intermittent. I have developed a new Doppler-based system which provides continuous two-dimensional mapping of crucial turbulent properties. Use of this system at the LEO15 cabled observatory off New Jersey revealed the existence of Langmuir supercells, Langmuir circulations that engulf the entire water column under prolonged wind/wave forcing. This previously unknown process dominates mixing and sediment transports on shallow continental shelves during much of the year. I am now interested in seeing these new techniques further developed and deployed in a variety of situations, specifically towed systems and cabled deep sea observatories.

Data Archive       Turbulence at Ocean Observatories

Latest results from this work

Gargett, A.E. 2009. Couette vs. Langmuir circulations: Comment on “On the helical flow of Langmuir circulation — Approaching the process of suspension freezing” by Dethleff, Kempema, Koch and Chubarenko. Cold Regions Sci. and Tech. 56, 58-60.

Gargett, A.E., A.E. Tejada-Martinez and C.E. Grosch. 2008. Measuring turbulent large eddy structures with an ADCP. 1. Vertical velocity variance. J. Mar. Res., 66(2), 157-189. 

Gargett, A. E. and J. R. Wells. 2007. Langmuir turbulence in shallow water: Part I. Observations.  J. Fluid Mechanics, 576, 27-61.

Gargett, A., J. Wells, A. E. Tejada-Martinez and C. E. Grosch. 2004. Langmuir supercells: a mechanism for sediment resuspension and transport in shallow seas. Science 306, 1925-1928.  Online Access

2. Turbulence and biology (at all scales)

My work in small-scale turbulence has led to collaborations in the area of biophysical interactions at the small scales of planktonic organisms, including comprehensive reviews of the relevant literature, development of simple but powerful models of multi-year biophysical interactions in strongly estuarine systems, and suggestion of mechanistic pathways by which effects of atmospheric variability may propagate, through influence on physical processes, up to the level of marine fish stocks.

Selected publications in this area

Gargett, A. E, and J. Marra. 2002. Effects of upper ocean physical processes - turbulence, advection, and air-sea interaction - on oceanic primary production. The Sea, Vol.12, ed. A. R. Robinson, J. J. McCarthy, and B. J. Rothschild, John Wiley & Sons, NY, 19-49. (copyright John Wiley and Sons)

Gargett, A. E., M. Li and R. M. Brown. 2001: Testing mechanistic explanations of observed correlations between environmental factors and marine fisheries. Can. J. Fish. Aq. Sci. 58(1), 208-219.

Gargett, A. E. 1999: Velcro measurement of turbulence kinetic energy dissipation rate . J. Atmosph. Oceanic Tech. 16(12), 1973-1993.

Gargett, A. E. 1997: The optimal stability "window": a mechanism underlying decadal fluctuations in North Pacific salmon stocks? Fish. Oceanogr. 6 (2), 109-117. 

Selected Invited Presentations

Rachel Carson Lecture, AGU/CGU/SEC Joint Assembly, May 2004

CAIMS (Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society) Annual General Meeting, June 2002.

Acoustical Society of America 142nd Annual Meeting, Special Session on "Turbulence and Finescale Studies", December 2002

ICES Annual Science Symposium, September 2000.

University of Washington Warren Wooster Lecture in Ocean and Fisheries Sciences, March 1999.