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Ray G. Peterson Papers
SMC 0084
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Title: Ray G. Peterson Papers
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0084
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
Languages:
English
Physical Description:
1.0 Linear feet
(1 carton)
Date (inclusive): 1972-2004
Abstract: Correspondence and professional papers of oceanographer Ray G. Peterson, including research files on ocean currents.
Creator:
Peterson, R. G. (Ray George), 1952-2001
Acquired 2010.
Scope and Content of Collection
A small collection of the correspondence and professional papers of Scripps Institution of Oceanography research oceanographer
Ray G. Peterson, including his files on ocean currents, field reports, and project proposals.
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.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Ray G. Peterson Papers. SMC 84. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Peterson, R. G. (Ray George), 1952-2001 -- Archives
Scripps Institution of Oceanography. -- Archives