Wolfgang Fennel is head of the Department of Physical Oceanography and Instrumentation in the Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research and Professor of Physical Oceanography at the University of Rostock. He earned his Ph.D. in 1973 from the University of Rostock on the topic of quantum statistics of the electron gas. His career in oceanography began in 1976 at the Institute of Marine Research of the Academy of Science of the German Democratic Republic, where he became involved in theoretical studies of turbulent diffusion in the ocean. Later, he worked on theoretical problems of oceanic waves and forcing of currents, as well as numerical circulation models. Prof. Fennel is also interested in interdisciplinary research and developed biogeochemical and fish models. He has worked as a guest professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden; University of Bergen, Norway; and at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. Wolfgang Fennel has authored about 100 publications in journals and books, and wrote two monographs.