The Physical Oceanography Division (PhOD) is a part of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) together with the Ocean Chemistry and Hurricane Research Divisions. The Physical Oceanography Division carries out interdisciplinary scientific investigations of the physics of ocean currents and water properties, and on the role of the ocean in climate, extreme weather events, and ecosystems. The tools used to carry out these studies range from sensors on deep ocean moorings to satellite-based instruments to measurements made on research and commercial shipping vessels and autonomous vehicles, and include data analyses and numerical modeling as well as theoretical approaches.
- The dynamics and variability of ocean currents;
- The redistribution of heat, salt and momentum through the oceans;
- The interactions between oceans, atmosphere, and coastal environments;
- The influence of climate variability on the ocean ecosystems, hurricanes and tornadoes;
Scientists at PhOD developed a synthetic method, which combines high-density expendable bathythermograph (XBT) temperature data along the AX08 XBT transect with altimetric sea level anomalies, to estimate the variability of the off-equatorial currents, such as the North Equatorial Countercurrent and the North Equatorial Undercurrent, on seasonal to interannual timescales. Understanding how the ocean dynamics is linked to anomalies of temperature and wind-stress in the tropical Atlantic is critical to understand the climate and weather variability in the adjacent continental areas. Go>>
- Global Ocean Surface Velocities from Drifters: Mean, Variance, ENSO Response, and Seasonal Cycle [pdf]
- Multidecadal Ocean Temperature and Salinity Variability in the Tropical North Atlantic: Linking with the AMO, AMOC and Subtropical Cell [pdf]
- Variability of the Atlantic off-equatorial eastward currents during 1993-2010 using a synthetic method [pdf]
- Triggering of El Nino through trade-wind induced charging of the equatorial Pacific [pdf]
Complete list of publications>>
Two summer interns at PhOD
- May 21 - Christopher Meinen: Attribution of Deep Western Boundary Current variability at 26.5oN
- May 29 - Chunzai Wang: A Fingerprint for the AMOC: Multidecadal Ocean Temperature Variability in the Tropical North Atlantic
- June 18 - Rick Lumpkin: The Structure and Dynamics of the Hawaiian Island Wake
- July 30 - George Halliwell: Ocean model strategies for improving hurricane forecasting
- August 28 - Elizabeth Johns: Temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll variability in south Florida coastal waters, 1998 - 2012
- September 3 - Gregory Foltz: Mechanisms of seasonal sea surface temperature variability in the northeastern tropical Atlantic
- September 5 - Molly Baringer: North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heat Transport
- September 10 - Claudia Schmid: Transports of the Subtropical Gyre in the South Atlantic from three-dimensional velocity field based on Argo and Altimetry
All seminars are held at the AOML first floor conference room, 3:00PM
- No job openings at this moment