Ocean Climate Lab Mission Statement

The exponential growth in the power of computers and richness of observational coverage are revealing how the ocean and sea ice systems exchange heat, mass, and momentum with the atmosphere to produce weather and climate. These same tools are just beginning to explore how ocean dynamics and the marine biological processes that carry out half of the planet's photosynthesis interact with the atmosphere to sequester 20-30% of the excess carbon released 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 powerful computational tools to organize these observations to guide understanding of the causes of ocean/sea ice variability and their exchanges with the atmosphere and land, including the roles human activities can play in altering those systems.

Ocean Data Assimilation Climate Dynamics Tropical & High Latitude Dynamics Sea Level Variability 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 375: Introduction to the Blue Ocean
  • AOSC 611: Atmosphere/Ocean Dynamics2
  • AOSC 617: Atmosphere/Ocean Cimate