Stommel’s 1961 Tellus Paper on Thermohaline Circulation Stability: Curious Early History and Lasting Legacy

Jochem Marotzke

doi:10.16993/tellus.4175

Stommel’s 1961 Tellus Paper on Thermohaline Circulation Stability: Curious Early History and Lasting Legacy

Tellus

Volume 79 (2026): Issue 1

By: Jochem Marotzke

Open Access

|Jul 2026

Abstract

Stommel’s 1961 Tellus paper on thermohaline circulation stability had no scientific precedent and is now rightly counted as one of physical oceanography’s seminal papers. I first review the little-known circuitous early history of this paper’s reception. Then I provide physical as well as sociological explanations for why, after a very slow start, this paper developed its lasting intellectual legacy. Finally, I demonstrate how this paper can serve as a powerful tool for teaching dynamical-systems approaches through an oceanographic example.

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