Physical Oceanography Division

Physical Oceanography

The Physical Oceanography Division is comprised of scientists, engineers, and technical support staff that aid NOAA’s mission by observing and studying ocean and climate dynamics, the physical drivers of ecosystem variability, and the impacts of natural and anthropogenic activities on marine resources. We study how ocean changes affect climate, marine ecosystems, and coastal and inland communities. We also share and build on the current state of knowledge by maintaining valuable, long-term datasets of changes over time.

Visit the Physical Oceanography Division

Overturning Oceans & Societal Impacts

The overturning circulation is one of the primary ways that the oceans move heat, salt, carbon and nutrients throughout the global oceans. Changes in the AMOC over time have a pronounced impact on a variety of socially important weather and climate phenomena, on the blue economy, and on commerce. AOML scientists have shown that these changes predict precipitation changes around the world.

Visit the Meridional Overturning Circulation Page

Global Ocean Observing System

AOML works with partners around the world to develop and maintain key components of these systems of observing technologies, known collectively as the Global Ocean Observing System. The resulting observations have been shown to improve weather forecasts and advance our knowledge of climate fluctuations.

Visit the Global Ocean Observing System Page

Ocean Monitoring to Protect Marine Mammals and Manage Fisheries

AOML scientists have developed several tools and reporting systems in conjunction with our partners to reduce ship strikes for endangered right whales, track larval distributions for better stock assessments, and provide information to track bluefin tuna fisheries.

Visit the Observations for the Blue Economy Page

Oceanographers Help Improve Outlooks of Extreme Weather

Scientists at AOML are working to extend the forecast for extreme weather events (such as heatwaves, tornadoes, and hurricanes).  Improved forecasts serve to provide emergency managers, government officials, businesses, and the public with better advanced warning to minimize catastrophic loss of life and damage to critical infrastructure.

Visit the Extreme Weather Page

Featured Projects

Hurricane Glider Project

Improving Hurricane Intensity Forecasts with Ocean Observations

Global Drifter Program

Climatology of surface current data provides high-resolution monthly temperature

PIRATA

Physical ocean dynamics data taken daily, updated yearly

An Argo float being thrown off a ship into the ocean.

Argo Program

An Array of Profiling Floats Observing the Ocean in Real-Time

Western Boundary Time Series

Monitoring the Western Boundary Currents in the Subtropical Atlantic

Repeat hydrography image. Photo Credit: NOAA.

GO-SHIP Repeat Hydrography

Documenting changes in heat, fresh water, carbon, nutrients, and oxygen and trace gases

eXpendable BathyThermograph (XBT) Network

Collecting temperature observations of the upper 1km of the ocean

Physical Oceanography Data

Data from buoys, satellites, and instruments on the sea floor can be accessed on our Data page or by clicking the links below.

Florida Current Transport Time Series

Submerged cables provide voltage differential to measure daily transport

Experimental Sargassum Inundation Reports

Assesses the risk of sargassum coastal inundation in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico regions.

OceanViewer

Providing Real-Time Ocean Observations with in-Situ Sampling

Argo Data

Broad-scale global array of temperature and salinity profiling floats.

Satellite Data

Sea height anomaly, sea surface and water column temperature, and surface currents.

Global Drifter Data

Global surface currents, drifter-derived climatology, and seasonal current animations.

State of the Ocean Observing System Data

The State of the Ocean Observing System is our evaluation of how well essential ocean and climate variables are being measured.

XBT Data

Temperature, structure, and time-dependent ocean properties of the Atlantic Subtropical Gyre.

Ocean Inorganic Carbon Data

Dissolved inorganic compound (DIC) measurements and underway partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) measurements.

Science Seminars

The Physical Oceanography Division at AOML hosts seminars to share its latest work and strengthen collaborations for an Earth Systems approach to research. Watch seminars from previous years on Youtube.

Upcoming Seminars

There are no seminars scheduled at this time.

saildrone

Project Highlight

Saildrone 1054 equipped with a new compact wing designed for extreme high-wind events. Image credit: Saildrone

Saildrone 1054 equipped with a new compact wing designed for extreme high-wind events. Image credit: Saildrone

Observations for Weather & Climate

Saildrone

Five uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), known as saildrones, are being deployed from the US Virgin Islands and Florida in July to gather key data throughout the 2021 Tropical Atlantic hurricane season. The mission is in support of hurricane monitoring and prediction and is a joint project between AOML, CIMAS, PMEL, CICOES, and Saildrone, Inc. These saildrones are equipped with specially designed “hurricane wings” to enable them to operate in extreme conditions. The mission aims to improve understanding and predictability of tropical cyclone intensity changes and advance knowledge of the ocean-atmosphere interactions that fuel them.

To learn more visit the AOML/ PMEL Saildrone webpage.

Saildrone web page

Recent News

A schematic of the major currents feeding the North Atlantic comprising the Northern limb of the AMOC.
A schematic of the major currents feeding the North Atlantic comprising the Northern limb of the AMOC.

Study Explores the Relationship of Anthropogenic Carbon and Ocean Circulation

Study Explores the Relationship of Anthropogenic Carbon and Ocean Circulation

October 22, 2021

In a recently published study in Nature Geoscience, scientists at AOML and international partners quantified the strength and variability of anthropogenic (man-made) carbon (Canth) transport in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study found that buildup of Canth in the North Atlantic is sensitive to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) strength and to Canth uptake at the ocean’s surface.

Read Story

Deep Ocean Warming Continues into the Vema Channel

Ocean Drone Sails into Category 4 Hurricane Sam

A world first: Ocean drone captures video from inside a hurricane

2020 State of the Climate Report Shows Global Ocean Processes are Shifting

Featured Publication

December 13, 2021

Chakravorty, S., Perez, R. C., Gnanaseelan, C., & Anderson, B. T. (2021). Revisiting the recharge and discharge processes for different flavors of El Niño. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 126(11), e2020JC017075.

Plain Language Summary: The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the largest source of year-to-year climate variability. ENSO has a pronounced influence on regional and global circulation and precipitation patterns and thus has considerable worldwide socio-economical impacts. El Niño, the warm phase of ENSO, exhibits modulation in the longitudinal location of its maximum warming, creating what is referred to as ENSO diversity. For conventional El Niño events, maximum surface warming is located in the eastern equatorial Pacific, for which subsurface warming along the tropical Pacific has proven to serve as a predictor several months in advance. Previous studies disagree on whether this subsurface warming is similarly essential for El Niño events that have peak surface warming in the central Pacific. The authors developed an improved method for identifying these two types of El Niño in an ocean reanalysis product. Using this improved method, they found no clear evidence of a subsurface warming precursor for the central Pacific El Niño events along the equator. This lack of a tropical subsurface precursor limits our ability to predict these types of El Niño events.

Download Full Paper.

Read More

Revisiting the Recharge and Discharge Processes for Different Flavors of El Niño

Chakravorty, S., Perez, R. C., Gnanaseelan, C., & Anderson, B. T. (2021). Revisiting the recharge and discharge processes for different flavors of El Niño. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 126(11), e2020JC017075.

Plain Language Summary: The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the largest source of year-to-year climate variability. ENSO has a pronounced influence on regional and global circulation and precipitation patterns and thus has considerable worldwide socio-economical impacts. El Niño, the warm phase of ENSO, exhibits modulation in the longitudinal location of its maximum warming, creating what is referred to as ENSO diversity. For conventional El Niño events, maximum surface warming is located in the eastern equatorial Pacific, for which subsurface warming along the tropical Pacific has proven to serve as a predictor several months in advance. Previous studies disagree on whether this subsurface warming is similarly essential for El Niño events that have peak surface warming in the central Pacific. The authors developed an improved method for identifying these two types of El Niño in an ocean reanalysis product. Using this improved method, they found no clear evidence of a subsurface warming precursor for the central Pacific El Niño events along the equator. This lack of a tropical subsurface precursor limits our ability to predict these types of El Niño events.

Download Full Paper.

PhOD_Pub_El_Nino

Looking for scientific literature? Visit our Publication Database.

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Technology Frontiers: Underwater Gliders

Gliding Through the Blue Frontier

A new wave of hurricane hunting technology. Click to view the storymap.

Driving Innovative Science

Project Report

This project report provides highlights of ongoing research projects that are either led by or involve AOML scientists together with essential science support personnel from NOAA, the University of Miami/Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS), and our international partners.

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Contact

Rick Lumpkin

Acting Director, Physical Oceanography Division

| Rick Lumpkin, Ph.D.

Director, Physical Oceanography Division

Ryan Smith

Acting Deputy Director, Physical Oceanography Division

| Ryan Smith

Acting Deputy Director, Physical Oceanography Division

View PhOD Staff Page

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Our Field Photos

Summer interns participate in field work on the 27 North Research Cruise.
(From left to right) Alycia Ciresi, Hanna Payne, Dylan Gates.

This Pirata buoy is part of a larger network that provides critical data to understand more about ocean dynamics.

Physical oceanographers lowering a glider into the ocean for sampling and data collection.

Global drifter buoy goes overboard during a research cruise.

Underwater Glider being deployed from a small boat in Puerto Rico.

CARICOOS team waves goodbye to AOML. “Having this buoy back in the water has enormous implications for us that go beyond the obvious value of having real-time ocean observations again at this site.”

Deployment of a PIES mooring in the South Atlantic.

Scientist Renellys Perez deploys XBT from a research vessel.

Scientists express their artistic side by painting a mooring buoy in their free time aboard the ship.