Gote H. Ostlund

University of Miami Professor Emeritus H Gote Ostlund (92) passed away at home in Coral Gables on March 5th, 2016 surrounded by family. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Prof Ostlund made distinguished contributions to ocean, atmosphere, and groundwater sciences. He received a B.S. in chemistry in 1949 and a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1958 from the University of Stockholm. After working in the Radioactive Dating Laboratory of the Swedish Geological Survey, Gote came to the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science of the University of Miami in the early 1960s where he built a world-class laboratory that set new standards for low level radiation measurements. Gote was a pioneer in the development of analytical techniques that became routine measurement of transient tracers for many years. Gote Ostlund has published over 100 papers, on a wide range of subjects, from participation in the discovery of the anesthetic Xylocain as a student in the 1950's, to using radio-isotopes to show that evaporation from the sea is the major fuel source for hurricanes, as well as studies of the Arctic Ocean where much of his work has formed the basis for comparisons made today as the Arctic is undergoing major changes as a result of climate change. Gote Ostlund served on scientific steering committees of several early global change programs; the data his laboratory produced, collected under the auspices of these programs, have furthered the world's understanding of oceanic processes which is now well recognized for its role in climate change. In 1984 Gote Ostlund was honored with the award of an Honorary Doctorate by the Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences of the Goteborg University in Sweden. Gote Ostlund is survived by Doris, his loving and devoted wife of 65 years, sons Stellan (Lauren) and Goran (Salme), and grandchildren Allison, Daniel, Emilie and Erik. A gathering of family and close friends is planned for Saturday March 12th