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Kirk Bryan / Ocean GCM / MOM lineage — Image Research & Licensing Report

All images downloaded to /home/michal/repos/michalbrennek.github.io/assets/images/.

Already in the repo — reused, not re-downloaded

  • Smagorinsky_portrait.jpg (220 x 277, public domain NOAA) — Joseph Smagorinsky, GFDL’s founding director who recruited Bryan in 1961. Already credited in post 2026-04-13 as “NOAA/Wikimedia”.
  • GFDL_building.jpg (920 x 430) — the GFDL lab on Princeton’s Forrestal Campus, already credited “NOAA/GFDL”.
  • Manabe_portrait.jpg and Syukuro_Manabe.jpg — Manabe likenesses, reserved for earlier posts (as instructed, not re-used here).

Image: Kirk_Bryan.jpg

  • Source URL: https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/national-academy-of-science-honors-noaas-kirk-bryan-for-pioneering-ocean-and-climate-science/
  • Direct file: https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Kirk-Bryan-Jr-award.jpg
  • License: Public domain (U.S. federal government work; NOAA-published promotional image for the 2023 Alexander Agassiz Medal announcement)
  • Author: NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory / Office of Communications
  • Credit line (for figcaption): Kirk Bryan Jr., photographed on the announcement of his 2023 Alexander Agassiz Medal. Photo: NOAA/GFDL, public domain.
  • Dimensions: 398 x 434 px (cropped from the original 1169 x 434 award banner to isolate the portrait; the left 66 percent held the Agassiz Medal graphic and award text, which were removed)
  • Notes: This is the best free-licensed Kirk Bryan portrait available anywhere. Wikimedia Commons has no Bryan image, Wikipedia’s biography page has no photo, and the Princeton AOS faculty page is copyrighted. The NOAA banner image is the only public-domain source; cropping yields a serviceable head-and-shoulders portrait. Small but sufficient at figure size. The image shows Bryan in his 90s (circa 2022-2023) — the only era we have; no free-licensed mid-career photo exists.

Image: Henry_Stommel.jpg

  • Source URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stommel_about_n1_35630.jpg
  • Direct file: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Stommel_about_n1_35630.jpg
  • License: Public domain (originated with NOAA; Wikimedia file page states it is a work of a U.S. federal employee created as part of official duties)
  • Author: Vicky Cullen (WHOI)
  • Date: 1 January 1979
  • Credit line (for figcaption): Henry Stommel in his Clark Lab office at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1979. Photo: Vicky Cullen / WHOI, via NOAA (public domain).
  • Dimensions: 250 x 317 px
  • Notes: This is the iconic Stommel portrait — him seated in front of towering stacks of papers and reprints, the shot reproduced in virtually every obituary and biographical profile. Low resolution but unmistakable. The only free-licensed Stommel image on Wikimedia Commons (the category contains exactly one file).

Image: Thermohaline_conveyor.png

  • Source URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thermohaline_Circulation_2.png
  • Direct file: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Thermohaline_Circulation_2.png
  • License: Public domain (NASA work; minor modifications by Robert A. Rohde released to PD)
  • Author: Robert Simmon, NASA Earth Observatory (base figure); Robert A. Rohde (modifications)
  • Date: 29 March 2008
  • Credit line (for figcaption): Thermohaline circulation schematic — surface currents in red, deep currents in blue, deep-water formation zones labelled. Figure: Robert Simmon / NASA Earth Observatory, public domain.
  • Dimensions: 1100 x 690 px
  • Notes: The cleanest public-domain rendering of the “global conveyor” concept Wally Broecker popularised. Uses a salinity basemap (PSS) rather than temperature, which is scientifically more accurate for the thermohaline framing. Well-labelled, high-contrast, works at large figure size. Preferred over the CC BY-SA 3.0 “Conveyor_belt.svg” by Avsa (which is also fine but less polished).

Image: Ocean_GCM_viz.jpg

  • Source URL: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3827/ (NASA SVS “Perpetual Ocean”)
  • Direct file: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003827/siggraph_currents_STILL2.15402.jpg
  • License: Public domain (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio; NASA material is not protected by copyright)
  • Author: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio; model data from the MIT/JPL ECCO2 project (MITgcm)
  • Date: 2011
  • Credit line (for figcaption): Sea surface currents from NASA’s “Perpetual Ocean” visualisation — output from the ECCO2 ocean GCM, showing Gulf Stream eddies and North Atlantic circulation. Image: NASA/Goddard SVS, public domain.
  • Dimensions: 1920 x 1080 px (downsampled from the original 7680 x 4320 “siggraph STILL2” print to save bandwidth; the original was 35 MB)
  • Notes: The most iconic modern ocean-GCM visualisation in existence. Shows the Gulf Stream, Loop Current, North Atlantic mesoscale eddies — exactly the structures Bryan’s 1969 model first simulated. Directly descended from the MOM/GFDL lineage via MITgcm. The ECCO2 model is MIT’s cousin of MOM, both tracing back to Bryan-Cox-Semtner.

Image: header-bryan.jpg

  • Source: Derived from Ocean_GCM_viz.jpg (siggraph_currents_STILL2.15402.jpg, NASA SVS Perpetual Ocean)
  • Processing: Resized from 7680 x 4320 to 1600 x 900 (Lanczos, JPEG q=88). The native 16:9 aspect ratio meant no cropping was needed.
  • License: Public domain (derivative of NASA work)
  • Credit line (for figcaption): Sea surface currents from NASA’s Perpetual Ocean visualisation (ECCO2 / MITgcm). Image: NASA/Goddard SVS, public domain.
  • Dimensions: 1600 x 900 px
  • Notes: Shows the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic eddy field — the very phenomena Bryan’s generation of models was built to resolve. Dramatic, immediately recognisable, and thematically perfect for a post on the birth of ocean GCMs.

Image: WHOI.jpg

  • Source URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woods_Hole_Oceanographic_Institution_and_ferry_terminal_aerial_postcard.jpg
  • Direct file: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Woods_Hole_Oceanographic_Institution_and_ferry_terminal_aerial_postcard.jpg
  • License: Public domain in the United States (published between 1931 and 1977 without a copyright notice; mechanical scan of a PD original)
  • Author: Unknown postcard photographer (ca. 1950s)
  • Credit line (for figcaption): Aerial view of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Vineyard Sound ferry terminal, ca. 1950s. Postcard image, public domain (via Wikimedia Commons).
  • Dimensions: 1496 x 954 px
  • Notes: Period-appropriate view of the WHOI campus during Stommel’s most productive years (Stommel joined WHOI in 1944). Shows the institution as it actually looked when Stommel was formulating his Gulf Stream and thermohaline theories. Slight postcard caption “Woods Hole & Island Ferry - Cape Cod” at the bottom is authentic to the era; can be cropped out if needed.

Summary

6 new images downloaded + 2 existing images reused:

Filename Status License Primary source
Kirk_Bryan.jpg new Public domain NOAA/GFDL (cropped from 2023 Agassiz announcement)
Henry_Stommel.jpg new Public domain NOAA (Vicky Cullen, WHOI, 1979)
Smagorinsky_portrait.jpg existing Public domain NOAA (carried over from post 2026-04-13)
GFDL_building.jpg existing NOAA/GFDL (carried over)
Thermohaline_conveyor.png new Public domain NASA Earth Observatory (Robert Simmon)
Ocean_GCM_viz.jpg new Public domain NASA/Goddard SVS (ECCO2 / MITgcm)
WHOI.jpg new Public domain 1950s postcard (Wikimedia Commons)
header-bryan.jpg new Public domain NASA/Goddard SVS (derivative)

Coverage gaps / caveats

  • Kirk Bryan: No free-licensed photo of him in the 1960s-1980s exists. The NOAA 2023 banner (cropped) is the only option. The Princeton 1969 photograph of Bryan with Manabe and Smagorinsky (referenced in Princeton news articles and the MOM history PDF) is archived by Princeton and not released under a free licence. Can be added later by request to the Princeton AOS department if absolutely needed.
  • Joseph Smagorinsky: The existing Smagorinsky_portrait.jpg (Joseph_Smagorinsky_2.jpg from Wikimedia, NOAA original) is used. A second portrait (Joseph_Smagorinsky.png, PD, released by his son in 2007 at higher crop but lower resolution) was not downloaded because the existing file is adequate; can be added if a second pose is needed.
  • GFDL Princeton: The existing GFDL_building.jpg (920 x 430) covers this. No free higher-resolution replacement is readily available.
  • Bryan-Cox-Semtner model output: No archival 1969 computer-printout or 1970s-era ocean-GCM figure is on Wikimedia. NASA ECCO2 / Perpetual Ocean stands in as the modern representative of the lineage.
  • Henry Stommel: Low resolution (250 x 317) is the limiting factor. Renders sharp at figure sizes up to ~300px wide; avoid stretching. No alternative PD Stommel photo is in free-licence circulation.
  • MOM logo / GitHub banner: Not included. The MOM-ocean.github.io project has no formally licensed banner graphic. Text reference should suffice.
  • Broecker conveyor-belt original sketch: Broecker’s hand-drawn 1987 schematic is copyrighted (Natural History, 1987). The NASA rendering (Thermohaline_conveyor.png) is the standard free substitute used in every textbook.