I am a Research Assistant Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. My work centers on using numerical tools (mostly spectral and finite volume) to characterize the behavior of fluid systems. I got my PhD at the University of Santa Cruz, focusing on how small mixing processes affects the evolution of stars. My work has since changed to the study of microscale processes in the ocean and the impacts that they can have on global climate in addition to the characteristics of wake turbulence.
Often, theorists assume (by necessity) that small-scale motion is decoupled from larger-scale phenomena, but this is not always the case. I investigate the effects of large-scale shear and internal waves on double-diffusive systems, such as salt fingers and thermohaline staircases, to infer the behavior of these systems in more realistic environments. This provides more accurate mixing behavior that can be used to better predict heat, salt, and nutrient transport in the Arctic and tropical thermoclines.
Thermohaline intrusions develop anywhere in the ocean where strong vertical gradients and weak horizontal gradients can be found, often near fronts and eddies. Their lateral mixing could potentially be a major contributor to ocean mixing, but such behavior is difficult to characterize because these systems can extend for kilometers. Using parameterized transport, I am simulating these processes on more reasonable scales than has been attempted before.
Every object traveling through fluid produces a lingering wake. The turbulence generated by natural or artificial bodies in strongly stratified regions can result in thermal mixing and lingering turbulence. Understanding the production and decay of this turbulence is a fundamental problem in fluid dynamics and is a consideration in the interactions between natural and artificial systems in the ocean.
The behavior and performance of the control surfaces on UUVs is critical to improving their efficiency and control in complex ocean environments. However, these systems are expensive and so extensive experimental testing is infeasible. I am performing simulations to characterize the forcing on a number of hydrofoil shapes as a more cost-effective option, comparing to experimental data when possible for validation.
Double-diffusive mixing can also have important consequences in stellar interiors, affecting the final size distributions of stars and their nucleosynthetic products.
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Using spectroscopic measurements from the Palomar-Green Survey, we were able to measure radial velocities of low-mass white dwarfs and determine the fraction of these stars exist in single systems.
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The breadth of existing turbulence models demonstrates that turbulence is not universal. It is possible to use local measurements of turbulence to identify the production mechanism using machine learning.
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Baroclinic instability drives strong zonal jets both on Earth and in gas giants, but on Earth, large-scale topographic slope can promote or inhibit transport.
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