Research Interests

My research interest is the study of physical processes in coastal ocean. Big, small, long, short, high-frequency, low-frequency, stratified, unstratified, rotating, nonrotating, forced, unforced, surface, bottom, middle – I don’t care. If it’s physics and coastal, I’m interested.

I am most interested in understanding the dynamics of the evolving structure of the density field over the shelf. How it is affected by external forcing and how it in turn affects the circulation within the coastal ocean.

My approach is observational, using innovative sampling techniques – such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) – coupled with modeling and analysis, to explain fundamental physical processes.

In addition, I think that this kind of research needs to be approached with an interdisciplinary perspective, extending the understanding of physical processes to their impacts on biological, chemical and environmental processes.

Current Research

under construction ....

Past Research

• Northwest Australian Shelf Dynamics Experiment

  Study of evaporative dense water formation over the inner-shelf and shelf-slope exchange processes associated with variability of the Leeuwin Current along the northwest Australian coast.

• One-hundred plus years of Sea Surface Temperature Variability along the US East Coast

  Beginning in the late 1800’s, lightships (floating lighthouses) were deployed along the US coast as aids to navigation. By the 1950’s, the lightships were gradually retired and replaced by observational buoys operated by NOAA. Observations from these lightships and buoys are used to characterize the variability of sea surface temperature along the US east coast over the last 100 years. Coastal waters have warmed at a rate of approximately 0.02°/yr.

• Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Surveys at the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory

  Mutliple AUVs (REMUS) and ship-based CTD and ADCP observations are used to perform high-resolution, synoptic surveys of small scale (a few km) rapidly evolving (several hours) features over the inner-shelf.

• Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Glider (AUVG) Endurance Line on the Oregon Shelf

  AUVGs will be used to occupy cross-shelf sections off Newport, Oregon and south of Heceta Bank on weekly time scales for several years. The Newport Line has a long history of observations, and the new autonomous observations will continue that legacy, adding to our understanding of the interannual variability on the US west coast.

• Observations of Surface and Bottom Water Temperature on the Oregon Shelf through Industry-Academic Collaboration

  In collaboration with commercial crab fishermen, I am making observations of surface and bottom temperature over a region of shelf off Newport, Oregon. Fifty crab pots are equipped with inexpensive, durable sensors recording temperature on 7.5 minute intervals.

• Coastal Mixing and Optics Experiment Moored Array

  Observations from the Coastal Mixing and Optics moored array have been used to characterize the evolution of stratification on the New England shelf, the dynamics of subtidal shelf circulations, the dynamics of barotropic and baroclinic tides, and processes affecting the structure and evolution of near-inertial variability.