My research concerns the role that the oceans play in climate variability. My tools are numerical and analytical models of ocean circulation, including models run locally and analysis of model runs done at national centers. I also am active in global warming education and organized UWs contribution to Focus the Nation, and National teach in on global warming on January 31, 2008. For my thoughts on the role of the oceans in climate change, see a short essay I wrote.

Specific research questions and collaborators include:

Does oxygen variability in the southern ocean reflect global warming or decadal variability in the ocean circulation?  Mark Warner

How do we interpret water mass ages from Chlorofluorocarbons in the presence of variable saturation rates and variable circulation? How do tracer ages impact estimates of anthropogenic carbon uptake by the oceans? Mark Warner and Sabine Mecking, and David Trossman

Does the Gulf Stream influence storm development over the North Atlantic? Kathryn Kelly, Jerome Patoux, Jimmy Booth

What controls the heat budget in the Gulf Stream, and can changes in the meridional overturning circulation be traced changes in meridional heat flux and gyre scale dynamics? Kathryn Kelly and Suzanne Dickinson. See also an article I wrote for the PCC newsletter on this topic.

How much is equatorial circulation and the heat budget in eastern tropical Pacific influence by atmospheric forcing versus small scale potential vorticity dynamics? Leif Thomas, Meghan Cronin, and Chuanli Jiang

How important is tidal mixing in deep water formation in the presence of ice? Kyle Armour and Cecilia Bitz

Do proglacial lake outburst from Lake Missoula (down the Columbia River during the last glacial maximum) impact ocean circulation and change? Susan Hautala, Paul Johnson, and Amelia Shevenell

Finally, my entry to "The best ocean competition", April 1, 2009

The 10 reasons why the numerical ocean is best: or why all of my oceans are on the computer and why I like to keep them that way

10.  No sea sickness
9.  You can’t get wet
8.  There are no sharks  (this one is from Lucy)
7.  You are never lacking in data
6.  If you pollute the numerical ocean, you can always just get rid of it
5.  You can always balance heat, momentum, PV perfectly.  
4.  Errors?  What errors?
3.  The data is always on a grid.  No mapping necessary.
2.  You can exactly predict the future
1.  The carbon footprint of acquiring data is small.  It is the greenist ocean!