January 5th, 2023
NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory scientists saw their research extend far and wide in 2022, as five NOAA GFDL researchers were listed among the most highly-cited scientists in the world in December.
NOAA GFDL scientists Tom Delworth, John Dunne, Stephen Griffies, Larry Horowitz, and Andrew Wittenberg were among 13 total NOAA scientists to make the Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher list for 2022. Every year, Clarivate, a company that provides analytics on scientific and academic research, compiles a list of scientists whose work is most frequently cited by their peers over the last decade.
The distinction is important because it shows how influential a scientist’s work is — to be highly-cited is to know that one’s research is contributing greatly to the growing body of scientific knowledge. In 2022, about 7,000 of the world’s scientists across multiple fields made the list. This amounts to about 0.1% of global researchers.
“I feel honored to know that many scientists find my work of interest and useful,” said Stephen Griffies, who studies ocean fluid mechanics and circulation at GFDL. The Highly Cited Researcher list, he said, is not something he strives for specifically, but “it is a very nice surprise.”
Griffies believes the nature of his research lends itself well to having a broad reach in the scientific community.
“My research is generally quite fundamental rather than applied, making it of use across a broad spectrum of researchers,” he said. “Correspondingly, I generally strive to write papers that have a lasting impact; that is, the sort of papers that are of interest both today and well into the future.”
The Highly Cited Researcher list encompassed a range of scientific disciplines at GFDL. Here are the details on Griffies and the other scientists who made the list:
John Dunne, supervisory research oceanographer and head of GFDL’s Biogeochemistry, Atmospheric Chemistry, and Ecosystems Division: Climate and earth system modeling, the effects of climate variability and change on marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles, biogeochemical processes and impacts of eutrophication on coastal ecosystems, and more
Stephen Griffies, physical scientist at GFDL: Ocean fluid mechanics (eddy dynamics, analysis methods, parameterizations, fundamentals); ocean circulation (overturning, sea level, Atlantic and Southern Ocean dynamics and climate change)
Larry Horowitz, physical scientist at GFDL: Tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry and aerosols
Andrew Wittenberg, physical scientist at GFDL: tropical ocean/atmosphere interactions and the El Niño / Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
This is the third year in a row that these five scientists have been listed as Highly Cited Researchers. The 2020 list also included NOAA GFDL physical scientist Vaishali Naik. See the full list of Highly Cited Researchers here.