Ilker Fer is to receive the biennial prize during a ceremony at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union in April 2017. Fer is awarded the prize for his internationally recognized work on turbulence, mixing and dense water formation in high latitudes.
Working in the harsh environments of the Arctic and Antarctic, Fer used a variety of observational tools and platforms, including icebreakers, helicopters, drift stations on ice-floats, gliders, micro-structure profilers and under-sea-ice instrumentation. Based on these valuable observations in combination with theoretical and numerical models, he contributed substantially to the understanding of key mechanisms in the meridional overturning circulation.
The prize, generously sponsored by the international Springer Journal Ocean Dynamics, consists of a 3-D laser-engraved picture of the old meteor in a glass block, a prize certificate, an honorary lifetime membership of the German Society for Marine Research and a prize money of 1,500 €. Previously the prize has been awarded to Carsten Eden (2015), Gregory Johnson (2013), Andreas Oschlies (2011), Karen Heywood (2009), Eberhard Fahrbach (2007) and Stephen Rintoul (2005).