Coastal and Estuarine Fluid Dynamics

Our research focuses on water motion at scales of cm – km in estuaries and the coastal ocean. We investigate how water moves in response to drivers such as wind, tides, waves, and density gradients. These processes have implications for transport of materials such as nutrients, dissolved gases, sediment and larvae. We use a combination of field measurements, computer models, and theory to understand and predict these processes. Current research interests include: (1) flow over complex multi-scale topography such as coral reefs and rocky coasts; (2) the interplay between density stratification and turbulent mixing, and the effects on dissolved oxygen levels, in estuaries; (3) wave dynamics across marshes and living shorelines; and (4) feedbacks between hydrodynamics and biological processes in coastal systems.