Winter/Spring 2009


Sensitivity of the Barotropic Ocean to Tropical Cyclones Affecting Atlantic Canada

Jennifer Mecking

IFM-GEOMAR
Kiel, Germany

3:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 6, 2009


The Madden-Julian Oscillation, the Extratropics and the Oceans

Eric Oliver

Department of Oceanography
Dalhousie University

4:30 p.m., Thursday, January 15, 2009


"If you de-focus your eyes, you can see a shark", or:
What does a water column seismic image show?

Barry Ruddick

Department of Oceanography
Dalhousie University

4:30 p.m., Thursday, January 22, 2009


Mixing Things Up For the Last 35 Years

Neil Oakey

Emeritus Scientist, BIO and
Adjunct Professor, Dalhousie Oceanography

4:30 p.m., Thursday, January 29, 2009


Exploring Atmosphere-Ocean Coupling Using Principal Component and Redundancy Analysis

Faez Bakalian

Department of Oceanography
Dalhousie University

4:00 p.m., Thursday, February 5, 2009


No Seminar This Week

Thursday, February 12, 2009


Applications of the Static and Time-variable GRACE Gravity Fields

Jianliang Huang

Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN)
Ottawa

4:00 p.m., Thursday, February 19, 2009

This week's seminar will be a quick review of GRACE data and what it has been successfully applied to. Some of the following questions will be addressed: How does the GRACE improve the geoid? What does the GRACE tell us about the Great Lakes? What does the GRACE tell us about the PGR? What does the GRACE tell us about Greenland and Antarctica? What does the GRACE tell us about oceans?"


Winter Break
No seminar this week

Thursday, February 26, 2009


A weak-scattering model for high-frequency backscattering from oceanic pycnoclines

Tetjana Ross

Department of Oceanography
Dalhousie Univesity

4:00 p.m., Thursday, March 5, 2009


Toy models of internal waves

Dan Kelley

Department of Oceanography
Dalhousie University

4:00 p.m., Thursday, March 12, 2009


No Seminar This Week

Thursday, March 19, 2009


Seismic Reflection: A Study of the Mediterranean Undercurrent

Grant G. Buffett

Institute of Earth Sciences
Barcelona, Spain

4:00 p.m., Thursday, March 26, 2009

Seismic reflection profiling is applied to the study of large scale physical oceanographic processes in the Gulf of Cadiz and western Iberian coast, coinciding with the path of the Mediterranean Undercurrent. The multi-channel seismic reflection method provides clear images of thermohaline finestructure with a horizontal resolution approximately two orders of magnitude higher than CTD casting. The seismic data are corroborated against co-located historical oceanographic data. Seismic images show that different water masses are stratified and coherent over horizontal distances of some tens of kilometers. However, both the intensity of the reflectors and their horizontal coherence decreases downstream. This decrease in seismic reflectivity is probably the result of diminished vertical thermohaline contrasts while the reduced horizontal coherence suggests that mixing processes become dominant. Three identified seismic reflectivity zones are identified, North Atlantic Central Water, Mediterranean Water and North Atlantic Deep Water. Seismic evidence for the Mediterranean Undercurrent is found in the reflectivity patterns seen between about 500-1500 m. Lateral thermohaline stratification decreases downstream especially within the nearest 80 km from the coast of Portugal, where the Mediterranean Undercurrent flows attached to the continental shelf of Iberia. Analysis of root mean square (rms) seismic amplitudes in comparison with average temperature and salinity for the Mediterranean Undercurrent reveals similarly decreasing trends indicating that there is a causal relationship between observed thermohaline fine structure and true seismic amplitudes. To this end, the evolution of the MU may be studied seismically.


No Seminar This Week

Thursday, April 2, 2009


Breaking Into the WBBL

Alex Hay

Department of Oceanography
Dalhousie University

4:00 p.m., Thursday, April 9, 2009


No Seminar This Week

Thursday, April 16, 2009


Swimming with Internal Waves in the St. Lawrence Estuary - A summary of recent SLEIWEX fieldwork

Clark Richards

Department of Oceanography
Dalhousie University

4:00 p.m., Thursday, April 23, 2009


Title: TBA

Speaker

Institute

4:00 p.m., Thursday, April 30, 2009


Title: TBA

Speaker

Institute

4:00 p.m., Thursday, May 7, 2009


Title: TBA

Speaker

Institute

4:00 p.m., Thursday, May 14, 2009


Title: TBA

Speaker

Institute

4:00 p.m., Thursday, May 21, 2009