April 29, 2022
The Arctic Ocean is undergoing dramatic changes in both the ice cover and ocean structure in response to increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The decreases in sea ice extent and thickness, the dramatic reduction in ice that has survived more than one summer, and the changes in ocean stratification as warmer waters enter the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic through the Fram Strait and Barents Sea and from the Pacific through Bering Strait have significant implications for ocean acoustics. These changes have been so large that acoustic measurements made during the Cold War no longer reflect current conditions. At the same time, multipurpose acoustic systems can operate below the ice to monitor the changing Arctic Ocean by remotely measuring large-scale ocean temperatures, providing undersea navigation for floats, drifters, and autonomous undersea vehicles, and recording natural and anthropogenic sounds. Acoustic systems therefore have a special role to play in making measurements in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean.
Peter F. Worcester received a B.S. in Engineering Physics from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1968, M.S.in Physics from Stanford University, Stanford, CA, in 1969, and Ph.D. in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, in 1977.
He was in the U.S. Navy from 1969–72. He has been a Research Oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography since receiving his Ph.D. He is currently Research Oceanographer Emeritus. His primary research interests are in acoustical oceanography and underwater acoustics. His work has focused on the application of acoustic remote sensing techniques to the study of ocean structure and circulation. He has been engaged in the development of the technique of ocean acoustic tomography since its inception, including the development and deployment of the required instrumentation. He has participated in numerous experiments applying the technique to oceanographic and acoustic problems in the Arctic Ocean, Fram Strait, the Philippine Sea, the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, the Greenland Sea, and the Strait of Gibraltar.
Dr. Worcester is the recipient of the 2006 Walter Munk Award for Distinguished Research in Oceanography Related to Sound and the Sea, which was granted jointly by the United States Navy and The Oceanography Society. He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is a member of the American Geophysical Union and The Oceanography Society.