Large-scale ocean circulation; the dynamics of western boundary currents; ocean modeling; geophysical fluid dynamics; the circulation in the Southern Ocean.
The low-frequency variability of the South Atlantic and the South Indian Ocean circulation. Interocean exchanges. The shelf circulation in the southwestern Atlantic. The dynamics of shelfbreak formation.
I am fascinated by the diverse interactions that shape tropical ecosystems. In particular, I study how plant chemistry mediates the plant-herbivore interactions that generate neotropical forest diversity. I am also very concerned with conservation and restoration, and I apply chemical ecology to improving tropical reforestation. I have worked for many years in Gorongosa National Park, and there I study reforestation and the effects of fire and large mammals on savannas.
Roberta Marinelli is Professor and Dean Emerita of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. From 2021-2023, she was the Director of the Office Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation, where she oversaw the portfolio of research, infrastructure and operations for Arctic and Antarctic Research, and forged international partnerships that advanced discovery, collaboration, and innovation in polar regions.
Reconstructing Cenozoic-Holocene Earth Systems from sediment composition and deposition patterns
Miocene equatorial Pacific paleoproductivity from XRF scanning
Ocean carbon cycling
Geochemical tracers of sediment flux, redistribution, and sorting
Neogene evolution of Arabian Sea sedimentation (IODP Exp 355)
Seismic stratigraphy and pelagic sedimentation
BSc in Geology, University of Michigan, 1973
PhD in Oceanography, Oregon State Unversity, 1978
Scales of response of marine pelagic microorganisms, populations, and communities to environmental perturbations; the role of these responses on biogeochemical cycles, primary productivity, nitrogen fixation, photosynthesis, chlorophyll passive (solar-induced) fluorescence; and the physical and chemical factors controlling these processes.
Fluvial geomorphology, hydrology
Debris flows, sediment budgets, river migration, landscape evolution, surface-groundwater interactions, forest-geomorphic-hydrologic interactions.
AB Physics, Harvard University, 1990
PhD Hydrology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998
Associate Editor, 2009-present
Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface
Coastal oceanography; shelf/deep-sea exchange processes; eastern boundary currents; California and Peru/Chile Undercurrent; remote sensing; ocean acoustics; ocean circulation.
Measurements of ocean currents and water properties on frontal and larger scales, using a coastal-circulation radio-mapping technique, drifters and moored current meters, and shipborne/towed profilers; properties of coastal eddies and their effect on cross-shelf exchange; study of poleward undercurrents along the continental slope.
