Alexey Fedorov, PhD: Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, UCSD
I
am an Associate Professor at the Department of Geology and Geophysics
at Yale University and a visiting researcher at Princeton University
and GFDL. Welcome to my Web page.
My work is focused on ocean, atmosphere and climate dynamics, including the ocean role in climate and ocean-atmosphere interactions. These are fascinating areas of research with many unsolved problems, some relevant for contemporary climate, and some for climate variations of the past. My group engages these problems using modern observational and numerical methodologies and the tools of physics, mathematics, and computer sciences. In particular, we do numerical modeling by with state-of-the-art general circulation models (GCM), theoretical studies and statistical data analysis, as well as conceptual models of climate. The ultimate goal of my research is to advance our understanding of physical processes that control climate and to imrove our ability to predict climate changes. Below are a few examples of the problems we am working on.
Can climate change abruptly (Barreiro et al 2007)? Apparently, this has happened on multiple occasions in the past. Can such a rapid climate transition happen with future global warming? And if it does, will the abrupt climate change originate in high latitudes (say, in the northern Atlantic), or in low latitudes (in the tropical Pacific, for example)?
What will happen with ocean circulation in global warming? Will the Gulf Stream disappear and parts of Europe get into a deep freeze? The answer to the latter question is a straight NO, and if somebody claims to the contrary he or she supports a myth that has no scientific basis. Nevertheless, moderate changes in the strength of the circulation and the Gulf Stream path are likely, which may still have an important effect on climate (Fedorov et al 2007).
Can we predict El Nino more than a few months in advance?
Will a strong
El Nino, similar to the event of 1997/1998, occur any time soon? Could
climate, with global warming, slide to permanent El Nino-like
conditions in the tropics? In fact, this was a dominant climate state
some 3-5 million years ago (Fedorov et
al 2006).
How is energy transferred from the surface winds to the ocean thermocline, and to the deep ocean? Is the current generation of ocean and coupled GCMs are doing a good job in replicating this transfer (Fedorov 2007)? And if not, which physical parameterizations should be modified to improve the models?
My work is focused on ocean, atmosphere and climate dynamics, including the ocean role in climate and ocean-atmosphere interactions. These are fascinating areas of research with many unsolved problems, some relevant for contemporary climate, and some for climate variations of the past. My group engages these problems using modern observational and numerical methodologies and the tools of physics, mathematics, and computer sciences. In particular, we do numerical modeling by with state-of-the-art general circulation models (GCM), theoretical studies and statistical data analysis, as well as conceptual models of climate. The ultimate goal of my research is to advance our understanding of physical processes that control climate and to imrove our ability to predict climate changes. Below are a few examples of the problems we am working on.
Can climate change abruptly (Barreiro et al 2007)? Apparently, this has happened on multiple occasions in the past. Can such a rapid climate transition happen with future global warming? And if it does, will the abrupt climate change originate in high latitudes (say, in the northern Atlantic), or in low latitudes (in the tropical Pacific, for example)?
What will happen with ocean circulation in global warming? Will the Gulf Stream disappear and parts of Europe get into a deep freeze? The answer to the latter question is a straight NO, and if somebody claims to the contrary he or she supports a myth that has no scientific basis. Nevertheless, moderate changes in the strength of the circulation and the Gulf Stream path are likely, which may still have an important effect on climate (Fedorov et al 2007).
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How is energy transferred from the surface winds to the ocean thermocline, and to the deep ocean? Is the current generation of ocean and coupled GCMs are doing a good job in replicating this transfer (Fedorov 2007)? And if not, which physical parameterizations should be modified to improve the models?
I am also interested in various problems of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Physical Oceanography and Applied Mathematics (models of the ocean thermocline, oceanic circulation, coastal and equatorial oceanography), and small-scale air-sea interaction (wind waves, wave breaking and patten formation, e.g. Fedorov and Melville 2007).
Quite often, we have vacancies for postdoctoral work in my group, as well as for Ph.D. studies in our department, for qualified candidates interested in pursuing these and other important problems (a special message to Physics and Math majors who would like to pursue a Ph.D. in geophysics and climate).
