Jochen Kaempf is a passionate physical oceanographer with over 20 years of professional experience. His research has led to groundbreaking discoveries such as that of the Great Southern Australian Coastal Upwelling System, which key nutrient source for the Southern Ocean marine food web. Kaempf also uncovered the physical mechanisms driving gigantic phytoplankton blooms in the Arafura Sea north of Australia. He was the first marine scientist exploring and describing the water circulation of both the Persian Gulf and South Australian gulfs with state-of-the-art 3D hydrodynamic models. One of his favourite research topics is that of canyon-flow interactions.

Recently, Kaempf discovered that downwelling-favourable coastal winds can induce extreme bed shear stresses and substantial sediment suspension in nearshore waters within a distance of 20 km from a coast. This new finding is fundumental in the understanding of sediment transport and transport in the oceans. Kaempf has also recently developed a new theory that explains the mechanisms that control the Indian Ocean Dipole, which via its influence on droughts and floods in the region influences the wellbeing of millions of people.

Kaempf has published two textbooks on ocean modelling as a contribution to classroom teaching of oceanography, a monograph on upwelling systems of the world (co-authored by Piers Chapman), numerous book chapters, and around 40 peer-reviewed publications.