EPS Colloquium: Raffaele Ferrari, MIT

The abyssal ocean: its dynamics and its role in climate

In this lecture I will review recent advances in our understanding of the role played by turbulence in setting the overall structure of the oceans. I will focus on the deep ocean, where the impact of turbulence is strongly modulated by the presence of topography. The presentation will start with some theoretical arguments followed up by results from a very recent field campaign. I will conclude by discussing the implications of these results for our understanding of the global ocean circulation and its role in the climate system.

To be added to the EPS colloquium mailing list, please contact Caroline Carr at carolinecarr@fas.harvard.edu.

Raffaele Ferrari is an oceanographer interested in the role of the ocean in climate. His research span present, past and future climates with a special focus on the role of turbulence on ocean (and atmosphere) dynamics, on marine biology and the carbon cycle. He co-leads with Tapio Schneider the Climate Modeling Alliance, a Caltech-MIT collaborative effort to develop a new generation climate model and with Noelle Selin the Bringing Computation to the Climate Challenge, an MIT Climate Grand Challenge project to develop fast and efficient emulators of global climate models. He leads the Bottom Boundary Layer observational program in the deep North Atlantic. He is the co-director with Daniel Rothman of the Lorenz Center, a think-tank created to attract a diverse community interested in the fundamentals of climate science.