Director
Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies
Distinguished Professor of Oceanography
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science
RF1 290
(850) 645-7288 phone
(850) 644-4841 fax
My current area of research interest is on the role of the ocean in climate variability from the complementary perspectives of coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling and observations. I am especially interested in the study of western boundary currents, associated eddies, the thermohaline circulation, and their impact on the world ocean circulation.
I am the director of the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS), a center of excellence that promotes interdisciplinary research in ocean-atmosphere-land-ice interactions to increase our understanding of the physical, social, and economic consequences of climate variability. COAPS has over 70 people working on research grants totaling nearly $8 million in annual expenditures.
For the past 20 years, I have also been the coordinator of a broad partnership of institutions (academic, government, and industry) to develop and demonstrate the performance and application of high resolution, real-time global and basin-scale ocean prediction systems using the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). These systems are currently used operationally by the U.S. Navy at the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), Stennis Space Center, MS, and by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), Washington, D.C. The hybrid coordinate extends the geographic range of applicability of traditional isopycnic coordinate circulation models toward shallow coastal seas and unstratified parts of the world ocean. I am also co-chair of OceanPredict, an international science forum supporting the development and advance of global and regional ocean analysis and forecasting systems (see the recently published book, New Frontiers in Operational Oceanography). The primary purpose of OceanPredict is to work with international and intergovernmental partners to accelerate the improvement and exploitation of these systems for research, business and societal benefit.
As co-director of the Florida Climate Institute (FCI), a multi-disciplinary network of national and international research and public organizations, scientists, and individuals, I am involved in research and other activities designed to help us achieve a better understanding of climate variability and change. I recently co-edited a book on Florida's Climate published by the FCI that provides a thorough review of the current state of research on Florida's climate, and am currently involved in the Institute's efforts to produce a Florida Climate Assessment.
I am lead investigator and director of the multi-institutional "Consortium for Simulation of Oil-Microbial Interactions in the Ocean (CSOMIO)," which is working to fill critical gaps in our ability to numerically model the transport and fate of oil in coastal waters, as well as a fellow of two NOAA cooperative institutes -- the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) and the Northern Gulf Cooperative Institute (NGI).
