Oceanography Seminar

SPEAKER: Dr. Steven Jayne

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

TITLE: Mapping the Time-Mean Ocean Circulation Using Satellite Gravity and Altimetry

DATE: Wednesday May 7, 2003

TIME: 12:00 noon

PLACE: Spanagel Hall, Rm 316

ABSTRACT:

One of the great promises of satellite altimetry was to map the time-mean sea surface that could be used to estimate the general circulation. This goal has been heretofore unachievable owing to the lack of an independent estimate of the Earth's geoid. The Earth's geoid is now being accurately measured by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission launched in March 2002. The ocean circulation estimated from the sea surface height relative to the estimated geoid for the North Atlantic Ocean will be discussed. It will be tested against an independent estimate of the circulation made by optimal interpolation of the geostrophic pressure field made from floats and hydrography.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Dr. Jayne received his Sc.D. in Oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in 1999. After a post-doc at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, he currently is an Assistant Scientist in the Physical Oceanography Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He has recently been awarded a Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research. His research interests are in the areas of western boundary currents and associated recirculation gyres and eddy fluxes; remote sensing of the ocean; internal wave generation over rough topography, tidal dissipation, vertical mixing and its impact on climate.