Ph.D. National University of Ireland, Galway, 1999
Physical Oceanography
The focus of my research involves the study of air-sea interaction and the oceanic processes that influence atmosphere-ocean exchange. Although air-sea interaction plays a crucial role in climate and weather, and fuels to a greater extent the atmospheric and oceanic circulation, our understanding of the relevant small-scale processes is limited. The air-sea exchange of heat and gas is largely controlled by corresponding conductive and diffusive sublayers, where the dominant transfer mechanism is through molecular processes. The molecular sublayers are located immediately below the air-sea interface, with thickness of O(1 mm). Air-sea exchange of CO2 is currently one of the most important issues for climate change, as CO2 is considered to be the largest anthropogenic forcing factor and constitutes more than 50% of all greenhouse gases. The large uncertainties in the global CO2 budget underscore the importance of understanding the processes that control the air-sea CO2 fluxes. Air-sea heat transfer distributes heat throughout the globe, and as such the role of SST in the variability and evolution of the climate is one of the most important issues in current climate research.
