Associate Professor
College of Science and Engineering
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.
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. He has also developed a new theory that explains the mechanisms that control the Indian Ocean Dipole influencing the wellbeing of millions of people. More recently, Kaempf developed a new theory that explains the existence of upslope sediment transport at continental margins!.
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 more than 40 peer-reviewed publications.
Diploma (Physical Oceanography), University of Hamburg, Germany, 1994
PhD (Natural Sciences, Physical Oceanography), University of Hamburg, Germany,1996
Associate Professor (Oceanography) at Flinders University since July 2009
In 2011, Jochen Kaempf was a finalist of the prestigious Australian Museum Eureka Award in the Environment category. In the same year, he also was a finalist of the Jill Hudson Award for Environmental Protection by the Conservation Council SA. In 2014, Jochen won the Jill Hudson Award for Environmental Protection for his critical engagement as scientific expert in the discussion of various industrial proposals such as seawater desalination and oil drilling.
Jochen Kaempf's CV (in PDF format) can be downloaded from the link below.
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