Research Interests
Our current research is aimed at understanding the following three big questions. 1. Variability of Biological Productivity and Carbon Uptake in the Southern Ocean. Air-sea flux of CO2 in the Southern Ocean is driven by three distinct mechanisms: upwelling, heating and biological carbon uptake. The net CO2 flux is a small residual between these strongly compensating drivers. As such, climate models have difficulty reproducing the seasonal cycle of surface ocean pCO2 and carbon fluxes. (2012-2015 funding source: NSF Antarctic Oceanic and Atmospheric Science) 2. Antarctic Circumpolar Current during the Last Glacial Maximum. We hope to reconstruct the circulation of the Southern Ocean during the LGM, which could have played central roles in regulating the carbon storage and atmospheric pCO2 levels. Using models, we investigate the zonal and meridional circulations and associated density structures in consistency with available paleo-proxies. (2013-2015 funding source: NSF Antarctic Earth Sciences) 3. Interannual and decadal variability of subsurface oxygen in the Labrador Sea. The Labrador Sea is one of a few locations in the global oceans where deep waters are formed by open ocean convection. While oxygen time-series data shows major interannual and decadal variability, and its underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. In collaboration with Prof. Annalisa Bracco, we investigate the roles of circulation, gas exchange and biological sources using a suite of models. (2014-2017 funding source: NSF Chemical Oceanography)
Area of Specialization
Computational Modeling of Climate and Biogeochemical Processes