{"id":38,"date":"2020-09-04T21:24:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T21:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nike.atmos.ucla.edu\/henry\/?page_id=38"},"modified":"2025-12-16T02:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T02:28:08","slug":"research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/dynamical-oceanography-group\/research\/","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our research is centered around the dynamics of the ocean circulation, but spans a variety of scientific disciplines ranging from millennial-scale climate change to the mechanics of ice sheets. These pages are intended to provide a summary of current research foci, but the topics described here are far from exhaustive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The figure\/animation below encapsulates many of the key science questions that motivate our research:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ocean temperature (more precisely the potential temperature) 230m below the surface in a sector of Antarctica called the Weddell Sea. Black contours correspond to ocean depths of 500m, 1000m, 2000m and 3000m. Data from a recent global\u00a0simulation<\/a>\u00a0at unprecedentedly high resolution (1\/48 degree), run by NASA Ames.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In the past decades it has become clear that the ocean is a highly turbulent fluid. The figure\/animation above serves to illustrate this: in addition to the large-scale variations between the coastal ocean and offshore, the ocean’s temperature field is heavily distorted down to the smallest visible scales by “eddies”, ubiquitous vortical features found throughout the ocean. Much of our research is concerned with the way these relatively small-scale turbulent flows contribute to the the continental-scale ocean circulation around the Antarctic margins, for example, by mixing warm offshore waters toward the Antarctic coastline, where it can melt the continent’s marine-terminating glaciers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of these processes is also felt globally because they modulate coastal production of Antarctic Bottom Water. This dense water sinks and spreads away from Antarctica, ultimately filling more than one-third of the global sub-surface ocean and playing a key role in global biogeochemical cycles, for example via the transport of oxygen and storage of carbon in the deep ocean. Thus another central component of our research addresses the way surface processes and eddies shape the global “overturning circulation” that spreads dense water formed at high latitudes and ultimately returns them to the ocean surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a complete list of our research output, please refer to our\u00a0Publications<\/a>\u00a0page.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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PROJECTS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Characteristics and Origins of Eddies beneath Antarctic Sea Ice<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Circumpolar Variability and Exchanges Across the Antarctic Slope Front (Jul 2018 – Jun 2024)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eddy mixing and transport over continental slopes (Sep 2015-Aug 2019)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eddy\/tidal water mass transport and transformation in the Weddell Sea (Sep 2016 – Aug 2020)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estimating Spatiotemporal Meridional Overturning Circulation Variability from Satellite Observations using Machine Learning<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remotely Sensing Overturning Circulation Variability in the Southern Ocean (Aug 2019 – Jul 2022)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current: A Conduit or Blender of Antarctic Bottom Waters? (Sep 2020 – Aug 2024)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our research is centered around the dynamics of the ocean circulation, but spans a variety of scientific disciplines ranging from millennial-scale climate change to the mechanics of ice sheets. These pages are intended to provide a summary of current research foci, but the topics described here are far from exhaustive. The figure\/animation below encapsulates many…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-38","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/dynamical-oceanography-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/dynamical-oceanography-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/dynamical-oceanography-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/dynamical-oceanography-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/dynamical-oceanography-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/dynamical-oceanography-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":581,"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/dynamical-oceanography-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions\/581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/dynamical-oceanography-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}