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Professor of Sea Level Science, University of Liverpool

I am Professor of Sea Level Science at the University of Liverpool, in a joint appointment with the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). Before my university appointment I was leader of the NOC Sea Level subgroup, and I still work closely with them. The group includes people with expertise in tide gauges, geophysics and geodesy, coastal flooding and modelling, and various aspects of ocean dynamics and sea level change, and incorporates the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level and the National Tidal and Sea Level Facility. I am in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, which includes researchers with expertise in ocean circulation, climate, and biogeochemistry, among other things.

My particular expertise is in deep-ocean dynamics, particularly the interaction of ocean flows with topography, and with eddies. I study these using theory, numerical model diagnostics, and observations, particularly satellite altimetry and tide gauge (sea level) measurements, and ocean bottom pressure measurements. Sea level and bottom pressure are both intimately linked to the earth's gravity field and rotation. Ocean dynamics are also strongly controlled by the earth's rotation, so much so that I tend to consider ocean dynamics as rotational dynamics (of a fluid), rather than fluid dynamics (rotating). As a result I take a strongly geodetic approach to oceanography, and call myself a geodetic oceanographer.

Experience

  • –present
    Professor of Sea Level Science, University of Liverpool