As becomes our oceans, so becomes our planet
I am working towards understanding our planet's oceans. My work is part of the ECCO
(Estimating the Circulation
and Climate of the Ocean) project. (Also check out the ECCO2 site)
My efforts focus on the Southern Hemisphere oceans. This region is extremely significant in the Earth's climate. It is thought to be the largest oceanic sink of atmospheric CO2. It absorbs the large majority of wind energy from the atmosphere. It is the primary means of communication for the Earth's major ocean basins. Waters in this region undergo large transformations, which have important implications in the World's heat budget.
Despite this regions significance, it is poorly understood. This is largely because inhospitable weather and remoteness make it difficult to observe. With autonomous floats and satellite measurements of the oceans, however, this is becoming less valid. Elephant seals are also doing their part!
I am developing:
(pronounced saucy)
SOSE now has its own page!
SOSE is a Southern Ocean State Estimate. It is an assimilation of ocean observations with a state of the art eddy permitting ocean model (the MITgcm). It is being optimized to the observations taken in 2005 and 2006. Analysis of this state estimate can be used to understand the biology, chemistry, climate, and dynamics of the Southern Ocean. It is being carried out under the primary guidance of Carl
Wunsch and Patrick Heimbach as part of the ECCO-GODAE project. Computational support
for my work comes from SDSC.
Here is some info on my work and SOSE (SOSE is evolving rapidly; if you are interested in working with SOSE output it would be best to contact me)
Refereed publications:
Recent talks:
Other publications:
Mazloff, M. R. (Sept. 2006). Production and analysis of a southern ocean state estimate, Master's thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
