Research Interests

Relationship of time/space variability of phytoplankton to wind forcing in the California Current; Lagrangian observations of upper ocean optical properties; filaments in the California Current; mesoscale variability in the Southern Ocean; phytoplankton fluorescence.

Current Research

Advanced processor technology and its role in autonomous sensor networks; information systems and geospatial knowledge

Education

B. S., University of California, Berkeley (Natural Resources), 1974
Ph.D., University of California, Davis (Ecology), 1978

Graduate Students

Will Dillon, Computer Science PhD (completed June 2012) 
Alex Wiggins, Computer Science PhD candidate

Professional Societies

President, The Oceanography Society (www.tos.org)

Publications

Letelier, R.M., D.M. Karl, M.R. Abbott, and R.R. Bidigare, 2004, Light driven seasonal patterns of chlorophyll and nitrate in the lower euphotic zone of the North Pacific subtropical gyre, Limnol. Oceanogr., 49, 508-519.

Doney, S.C., M.R. Abbott, J.J. Cullen, D.M. Karl, and L. Rothstein, 2004, From genes to ecosystems: the ocean’s new frontier, Frontiers Ecology Environ., 2, 457-466.

Laney, S.R., R.M. Letelier, and M.R. Abbott, 2005, Parameterizing the natural fluorescence kinetics of Thalassiosira weissflogii, Limnol. Oceanogr., 50, 1499-1510.

Rothstein, L., M.R. Abbott, E. Chassignet, J. Cullen, K. Denman, S. Doney, H. Ducklow, K. Fennel, M. Follows, D. Haidvogel, E. Hofmann, D. Karl, J. Kindle, I. Lima, M. Maltrud, C. McClain, D. McGillicuddy, J. Olascoaga, Y. Spitz, J. Wiggert, and J. Yoder, 2006, Modeling ocean ecosystems: The PARADIGM program, Oceanography, 19, 22-51

Abbott, M.R., and C.E. Sears, 2006, The always-connected world and its impacts on ocean research, Oceanography, 19, 14-21.

Corno, G., R.M. Letelier, M.R. Abbott, and D.M. Karl, 2006, Assessing primary production variability in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre: A comparison of Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometry and 14C measurements, J. Phycology, 42, 51-60.

Corno, G., D.M. Karl, M.J. Church, R.M. Letelier, R. Lukas, R.R. Bidigare, and M.R. Abbott, 2007, The impact of climate forcing on ecosystem processes in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, J. Geophys. Res.,112, C04021, doi:10.1029/2006JC003730

Corno, G., R.M. Letelier, M.R. Abbott, D.M. Karl, and R. Bidigare, 2008, Temporal and vertical variability in photosynthesis in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, Limnol. Oceanogr., 53: 1252-1265.

Abbott, M.R., 2008, Oceanography in 2028, Oceanography, 21, 74-81.

Laney, S.R., R.M. Letelier, and M.R. Abbott, 2009, Using a nonanalytical approach to model nonlinear dynamics in photosynthesis at the photosystem level, J. Phycology, 45, 298-310.

Abbott, M.R., 2009, A new path for science? In: The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery, T. Hey, S. Tansley, and K. Tolle, eds., Microsoft Research, pp. 111-116.