Ocean Climate Lab Mission Statement

Exponential growth in the power of computers and richness of observational coverage is revealing how the ocean and sea ice systems exchange heat, mass, and momentum with the atmosphere to produce our weather and climate. These same tools are just beginning to explore how ocean circulation and the biological processes that carry out half of the planet's photosynthesis are able to sequester 20-30% of the excess carbon dioxide that humans release into the atmosphere each year. The ocean's growing contributions to the global economy; including fisheries, recreation, mining, and waste disposal; are adding to the stresses on these systems with unanticipated consequences. The Ocean Climate Lab exploits the power of these new computational and observational tools to explore the science behind ocean/sea ice variability, and their interactions with the atmosphere and land, and how human activities are changing those systems and relationships.

Ocean Data Assimilation Climate Dynamics Tropical & High Latitude Dynamics Sea Level Rise Air-Sea Interaction

Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA)

SODA Logo

The SODA reanalysis is a widely used global ocean reconstruction designed for climate research and analysis of oceanic processes.

Global Daily Altimeter Sea Surface Height (DASH)

New open-source system for mapping satellite altimeter sea level measurements onto a spatially uniform global daily grid.

Visit DASH website (soda.umd.edu/dash)

Research Areas

  • Global Ocean Reanalysis: Development of algorithms and data assimilation systems to reconstruct historical ocean states.
  • Tropical and High Latitude Dynamics: Studying ENSO variability, high-latitude climate mechanisms, Atlantic Equatorial Modes, and ocean-atmosphere interactions.
  • Decadal Climate Variability: Investigating ocean heat content shifts and long-term ocean circulation changes.

Selected Publications

View Google Scholar Profile → View ORCID Profile →

Teaching

  • AOSC 611: Atmosphere/Ocean dynamics2
  • AOSC 617: Atmosphere/Ocean climate
  • AOSC 375: Introduction to the Blue Ocean