Research overview

I am broadly interested in the ocean region called the “inner shelf.” This is the section offshore of the surfzone (where surface waves break) and onshore of where the interior is relatively free of boundary friction (figure from Moulton et al., 2022). A combination of observational and numerical methods are needed in inner-shelf research as the dynamics involve many processes across time-space scales. Therefore, you will often find me working in collaboration with teams. This is part of the fun of doing science!

Below are links to research partners and products. You can also find some animations on my YouTube page.

Observations on the South Atlantic Bight inner shelf

  • With an interdisciplinary group of UNCW colleagues, I am studying how ocean hydrodynamics (waves and currents) influence the ecosystem around Frying Pan Shoals. This work is a collaboration with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
  • The South Atlantic Bight is home to a few long-term ocean measurements. With regional observing partners CORMP and SECOORA, I am interested in the analysis of storm impacts and long-term variability in these data.

Coastal hydrodynamic models

  • I am working on wave and current models that accurately reproduce variability on rocky shorelines. This is part of a Multi University Research Initiative funded by the Office of Naval Research.
  • The MOANA project, aims to deliver open-access, high fidelity numerical circulation models to ocean stakeholders in coastal areas around New Zealand. With students and research collaborators, I work on coastal-resolving simulations of particle transport and water properties. A few examples from this research:

Small-scale coastal ocean processes

My favorite charismatic physical processes are small-scale and often unresolved by numerical models:

  1. Transient rip currents and cross-shelf exchange
  2. Internal tides and waves

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