Physical Oceanography

Physical Oceanography is one of three main divisions within the FSU Department of Oceanography, and is focused on the interaction between oceans and atmosphere and how that interaction influences and shapes our world.

Professors guide students in their study of wave motions, tides, currents, salinity and temperature of the oceans and how those properties influence weather and climate. Other avenues of study involve the transmission of light and sound through water and the ocean's interactions with its boundaries at the seafloor and the coast.

Physical oceanography requires a basic understanding of geophysical fluid dynamics (the study of fluid motion on a rotating sphere), classical physics, and applied mathematics.

Research Highlights:

Dr. Arbic

understanding the dynamics and energy dissipation of tides and the oceanic general circulation
tidal resonance and the response of tides to changing sea level, including ice-age sea levels
numerical modeling of both tides and the general circulation
geostrophic turbulence

Dr. Clarke

where does red tide in the Northern Gulf of Mexico originate
understanding and predicting El Niño and the Southern Oscillation
decadal and longer climate change

coastal fisheries and coastal ocean climate variability

Dr. Dewar

understanding the dynamics of the ocean at scales from 100 km to 10,000 km, or equivalently from the deformation scale to the basin scale
dynamics of eddies
Gulf Stream rings and coherent structures
western boundary currents
forced and free mesoscale systems; mesoscale phenomena: nonlinear sciences
mixed-layer dynamics

Dr. Krishnamurti

turbulent convection, chaos, fluid instability, atmospheric convection, large scale ocean circulation

Dr. Nof

movements of fluids within the ocean and its relationship to the interaction with the atmosphere above
ocean physics
physics of the Red Sea

Dr. St. Laurent

tides, waves and turbulent mixing
investigating the impact of rough topography on the ocean current

Dr. Speer

ocean circulation (with Dr. Sturges)

Dr. Stern

"double diffusive" effects such as salt-fingers produced by the unique combination of temperature and salinity in the density stratified oceans
basic fluid dynamics, especially as it relates to physical oceanography

Dr. Sturges

observations on the continental shelf of Florida

Dr. Wacongne-Speer

climate dynamics
Southern Ocean air-sea fluxes

Dr. Weatherly

circulation in the Gulf of Mexico (with Dr. Sturges)
sub-thermocline ocean circulation
bottom-boundary layers
coastal oceanography and separation of coastal currents