Ray G. Peterson Papers, 1972-2004 (SMC 84)

Ray G. Peterson (1952-2001) received his Ph.D. at Texas A&M University in 1987 under Worth Nowlin, measuring the transport and dynamics of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current through the Drake Passage. Prior to that, he worked as a meteorologist for the US Navy. His research was based on observations from the cruises and moorings of the International Southern Ocean Studies (ISOS) program. He completed his postdoctoral work in 1988-1990 at the Institute fur Meereskunde in Kiel, Germany, under Gerold Siedler, measuring the circulation in the South Atlantic Basin from R/V Polarstern.

Peterson came to SIO in 1991 as an assistant research oceanographer and was promoted to associate research oceanographer in 1997. While at SIO he continued his studies of the circulation in the Southern Ocean, collaborating with Warren White on the Antarctic Circumpolar Wave, an oceanic/atmospheric wave circling the Southern Ocean, which was considered controversial at the time.

Peterson also worked with Janet Sprintall on establishing high-resolution XBT sections across the Drake Passage, and started a program of repeated temperature measurements from the US Antarctic supply vessel to Palmer Station. In addition to international collaborations with other scientists, he published what was probably the earliest work using ALACE (Autonomous Lagrangian Circulation Explorer) floats in the Southern Ocean. Closer to home, Peterson and Teresa Chereskin began a time series in the California Current using a free falling Conductivity, Temperature and Density (CTD) profiler called the "Fast Fish," developed by WHOI engineers under WOCE (World Ocean Circulation Experiment). He also worked with Russ Davis on the Lagrangian drifter measurements of the Mavinas Current.