Research
Deciphering Climatic Signals within the Upper Ocean Water Mass Structure of the Tropical Atlantic
The net inflow to the Caribbean Sea (~28 Sv) accounts for up to 90% of the Florida Current transport (~31 Sv) and consequently is an important conduit of heat and salt fluxes in the upper limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). As up to 17 Sv of the 28 Sv flowing through the Yucatan Straits is thought to be of South Atlantic origin, these heat and salt fluxes are largely determined by the Caribbean’s role as the location where North and South Atlantic water masses mix together. In recent decades there have been significant changes in the North and South Atlantic Gyres and, thus, the major water masses that compose the Caribbean through-flow. There is significant paleoceanographic evidence that the changes in climate that have driven changes in water mass properties also have the potential to impact the circulation dynamics bringing these water masses to the Caribbean. The complex nature of the Caribbean through-flow and it’s role in determining the global distribution of heat and salt leads to an interesting and important question: Are the trends in water mass properties in the Caribbean through-flow due to changes in the source water mass properties or the circulation dynamics transporting these water masses to the region? In Chapter 2 of my PhD, I attempt to isolate the contribution of the Atlantic wide water mass trends to those observed in the Caribbean through-flow.
Revisiting Anegada Passage Transport
Caribbean through-flow is an important source of heat and salt for the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The presence of water masses that originated in the South Atlantic (SAW) in the Northern Hemisphere is indicative of cross-equatorial AMOC return flow. Ship-based observations in the 1990’s identified major pathways for this AMOC return flow but there is still a significant amount of SAW that is taking an unknown, alternate route northward. Working with Travis Miles and Scott Glenn of Rutgers and Doug Wilson from the University of the Virgin Islands, we have now conducted 4 glider deployments in the Anegada Passage region since 2020 collecting the first observations of temperature, salinity, and subsurface velocity in nearly 20 years. These observations suggest that the total transport and SAW transport through the Anegada Passage is larger than previously estimated. This work comprised the first Chapter of my PhD and has been published in JGR: Oceans.
Onboard Processing for Glider ADCPs
There is a growing number of increasingly complex instruments have been integrated into autonomous underwater vehicles over the past two decades. While these newly glider integrated sensors provide unprecedented insight into ocean processes, the large data volumes collected by these instruments cannot be efficiently telemetered to shore. There is a need for a sensor agnostic real-time processing software and hardware architecture for autonomous underwater vehicles. Working with Travis Miles, Eli Hunter, Julia Engdahl, and the software team at Teledyne Webb Research, we have begun integrating a Raspberry-Pi into a G3S Slocum Glider to perform real-time processing of Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) data. While this is ongoing work, initial findings from this work can be found in our Marine Technology Society Conference paper. The Python code used for ADCP processing can be found here.
Slocum Glider Development
Prior to coming to Rutgers, I worked as a Customer Support Applications Engineer on Slocum gliders for Teledyne Webb Research. I was primarily involved with testing and developing new glider software features while also supporting customers via remote field campaigns and technical trainings. During my time with TWR, I worked on lab and field testing of the under-ice and station keeping behaviors as well as development and testing of the STM-32 processor. Naturally I became very good at breaking gliders, of course with the goal of improving and hardening the system! I also was one of the lead pilots during the last two legs of Silbo’s Trans-Atlantic Challenger Mission, where this glider went from the Canary Islands to St. Thomas (417 days, 6256 km) and then from St. Thomas to Cape Cod (348 days, 6236 km).
Kinetic Energy and Phytoplankton
I conducted Master’s work at the University of Delaware with Matt Oliver in the ORB Lab. While at UD, my research investigated sea surface kinetic energy as a proxy for phytoplankton light limitation in the Southern Ocean through the use of SOCCOM floats as well as satellite and modeled parameters. Our JGR: Oceans’ publication showed that low surface kinetic energy behaves like a necessary but not sufficient condition for high chlorophyll concentrations. In high kinetic energy conditions, high chlorophyll concentrations arer are. Conversely, under low kinetic energy conditions, both high and low chlorophyll concentrations were observed. We showed that higher kinetic energy conditions are related to deeper mixed layers, which is likely a proxy for local light conditions.
