Climate-Ocean-Atmosphere Program

Applied Ocean Sciences

Applied Ocean Science is a multidisciplinary program focused on the application of advanced technology to ocean exploration and observation. Applied Ocean Science (AOS) students perform research in marine acoustics, optics, electromagnetics, geophysics, ecology, sediment transport, coastal processes, physical oceanography and air-sea interaction. The emphasis is on the resolution of key scientific issues through novel technological development.

Research areas in Applied Ocean Sciences include

• Ocean environmental acoustics: time inversion, underwater communications, marine acoustics theory, acoustic propagation in sediments, acoustics of bubbles in breaking waves, marine mammal acoustics
• Optics: ocean optics, optical properties of particulate matter in the ocean, remote sensing, underwater imaging, atmospheric optics
• Electromagnetics: Sensory Biophysics. Electroreception and Electromagnetic orientation in Sharks and Rays
• Signal processing
• Ecology
• Instrumentation, Innovative Marine Technologies: wave powered instrument systems, arrays of sensors, sensing of dinoflagellates' bioluminescence, use of GPS and acoustic measurements for positioning and navigation of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
• Coastal processes: fluid dynamics, estuarine dynamics/mixing, near-shore waves and currents, sediment transport, coastal circulation, shelf dynamics, coastal observatory development (SDCOOS: San Diego Coastal Observing System)
• Physical Oceanography: surface waves, air/sea interactions, internal waves, Upper Ocean Physics and Ocean-Atmosphere Boundary Layer
• Geology, Seismology and Geophysics: Marine geology, Seafloor mapping, Life cycle of sediments, Seafloor geodesy
• Climate studies: snow hydrology and hydroclimatology, monitoring of ocean environment and hurricane
• Marine chemistry

Climate Sciences concerns the study of Earth's climate system with emphasis on the physical, dynamical, and chemical interactions of the atmosphere, ocean, land, ice, and the terrestrial and marine biospheres. One of the central challenges is developing the ability to predict future climate changes, whether they are the consequences of human activities, or the result of natural climatic cycles. A related challenge is understanding how and why the climate of the earth has changed in the past.

Research areas in Climate Sciences include

• Paleoclimate
• Paleoceanography
• Ocean-Atmosphere Exchange Processes
• Coastal Weather
• General Ocean Circulation
• Regional and Large-Scale Climate Modeling
• Prediction
• Atmospheric Chemistry
• Cloud Physics
• Carbon Cycle
• Biogeochemistry
• Chemistry and Radiative Properties of Aerosols
• Trace Gas Distribution

Physical Oceanography deals with observations of the properties and movement of ocean water and the understanding and modeling of these natural phenomena using fundamental concepts of fluid mechanics, applied physics, and mathematics. In other words, physical oceanography concerns how water moves and mixes in the ocean, changes its properties, and carries and distributes dissolved chemicals, nutrients, plankton, and pollutants. The discipline is intertwined with atmospheric and climate studies. A goal of all these fields is understanding the energy and momentum transfer through the seas and across their boundaries.

Research Areas in Physical Oceanography include

• Geophysical fluid dynamics
• Climate dynamics
• General ocean circulation
• Acoustic techniques
• Instrumentation
• Ocean tomography
• Observational oceanography
• Meteorology
• Polar oceanography
• Satellite oceanography
• Coastal oceanography
• Turbulence
• Air-sea exchanges
• Wave processes (internal waves, surface waves, etc.)
• Mixing processes