Walter Munk

Research Professor

Room: Revelle Lab 2208

Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
University of California San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0225, USA.

Telephone: (858) 534-2877

Email: wmunk@ucsd.edu

Research Summary for 2006: Download PDF (68.956KB)

Research Interests:

• Tides
• Greenhouse warming
• Global acoustics
• Air-sea boundary

Courses Taught:

• SIO209 (Special Topics)
• SIO219 (Spec Topics/Physical Oceanogra)

Recent publications: ^†

• 2008, What do deep sea pressure fluctuations tell about short surface waves?. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L19605, doi:10.1029/2008GL035008.
• 2008, An Inconvenient Sea-Truth: Spread, Steepness and Skewness of Surface Slopes. Annual Review of Marine Science. in press.
• 2006, Tales of the Venerable Honolulu Tide Gauge. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 36(6): 967-996.
• 2006, Scattering from the mixed layer base into the sound shadow. J. Acous. Soc. Am. 120(5): 2580-2594.
• 2004, The propagation of sound through a spicy ocean; the SOFAR overture. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116(3): 1447-1462.
• 2003, The Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP), Oceanography, 16, 3, 34-44
• 2003, Ocean freshening, sea level rising, Science, 300, 5628, 2041-2043
• 2002, William A. Nierenberg, In Memoriam 2001, 179-182
• 2002, What Does a Bunch of Sailors Know about Starting a University?, Chronicles (UCSD Emeriti Association), February 2002, 3-4
• 2002, Twentieth century sea level: An enigma, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 99, 10, 6550-6555
• 2002, The Evolution of Physical Oceanography in the Last Hundred Years, Oceanography, 15, 1, 135-141
• 2002, Millennial climate variability: Is there a tidal connection?, Journal of Climate, 15, 4, 370-385
• 2002, Harald U. Sverdrup and the War Years, Oceanography, 15, 4, 7-29
• 2002, A skull fragment of Bubalus murrensis (BERCKHEMER, 1927) (Mammalia, Bovinae) from the Pleistocene of Bruchsal-Buchenau (NE-Karlsruhe, SW-Germany), Neues Jahrbuch Fur Geologie Und Palaontologie-Monatshefte, 12, 737-748
• 2001, William Aaron Nierenberg - Obituaries, Physics Today, 54, 6, 74-75
• 2001, Turning point filters: Analysis of sound propagation on a gyre-scale, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 110, 1, 135-149
• 2001, Spirals on the Sea: A Manifestation of Upper-Ocean Stirring, 12th Proceedings ÔAha HulikoÕa: From Stirring to Mixing in a Stratified Ocean, 81-86
• 2001, Spirals on the sea, Scientia Marina, 65, 193-198
• 2001, Harald Ulrik Sverdup (1888-1957): celebrating the return of the Maud 75 years ago, Polar Research, 20, 2, 129-137
• 2000, Tides: A scientific history, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 54, 1, 116-119
• 2000, The Luck of Walter Munk, Kyoto Prizes & Inamori Grants 1999, 127-153
• 2000, Spirals on the sea, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series a-Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences, 456, 1997, 1217-1280
• 2000, Oceanography before, and after, the advent of satellites, Elsevier oceanography series, 63, 1-4
• 2000, Ocean Mixing Studied Near Hawaiian Ridge, EOS, 81, 545, 553
• 2000, Long-Term Observations in Acoustics Ð the Ocean Acoustic Observatory Federation, Oceanography, 13, 2, 57-63
• 1999, Reply to ÔHeat content changes in the Pacific Ocean,Õ by K. Kelly et al., Science, 284, 1735a
• 1999, Modeled radar surface signature of deep ocean convection, Ieee Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 37, 4, 2050-2067
• 1999, Comparisons of measured and predicted acoustic fluctuations for a 3250-km propagation experiment in the eastern North Pacific Ocean, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 105, 6, 3202-3218
• 1999, A test of basin-scale acoustic thermometry using a large-aperture vertical array at 3250-km range in the eastern North Pacific Ocean, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 105, 6, 3185-3201
• 1999, A Review of Recent Results on Ocean Acoustic Wave Propagation in Random Media: Basin Scales, IEEE J. of Ocean Engineering, 24, 138-155
• 1999, A review of recent results on ocean acoustic wave propagation in random media: Basin scales, I.E.E.E. J. Oceanic Eng., 24, 138-155
• 1998, State switched transducers: A new approach to high-power, low-frequency, underwater projectors, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 103, 3, 1428-1441
• 1998, Roger Randall Dougan Revelle 1909-1991, Biographical Memoirs National Academy of Sciences, 75, 1-23
• 1998, Ocean climate change: Comparison of acoustic tomography, satellite altimetry, and modeling, Science, 281, 5381, 1327-1332
• 1998, Abyssal recipes II: energetics of tidal and wind mixing, Deep-Sea Research Part I-Oceanographic Research Papers, 45, 12, 1977-2010
• 1997, Tribute to Roger Revelle and his contribution to studies of carbon dioxide and climate change, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 94, 16, 8275-8279
• 1997, The Moon, of course, Oceanography, 10, 132-134
• 1997, Preliminary estimates of North Pacific circulation from combined altimetry, acoustic tomography, and a general circulation model, International WOCE Newsletter, 25, 7-10, and 21
• 1997, Once again: Once again - tidal friction, Progress in Oceanography, 40, 1-4, 7-35
• 1997, Gliding mechanism in the Late Permian reptile Coelurosauravus, Science, 275, 5305, 1450-1452