Courses and resources in oceanography

Teaching

2017/18 Academic Year

  • Autumn 2017: SOES3010/6005 (Large Scale Ocean Processes) This is a dynamics course for 3rd year undergraduates and our 1-year Masters students. It is a relatively math-heavy introduction to large-scale ocean processes, including basic balances (hydrostatic and geostrophic), simple wind-forcing (Ekman transport), and the 1- and 2-layer shallow water equations. We also consider wave solutions (Poincare, Kelvin and Rossby), Ekman pumping and Sverdrup transport.

  • Autumn 2017: SOES2025 (Methods in oceanography) In this course, I contribute 5 weeks of material including lectures and computer practicals. The lectures focus on oceanography from space, including the EM spectrum, active and passive techniques for measuring the oceans, and the types and levels of data available. The practicals consist of 10 hours of Matlab work on self-paced labs. These are designed for students who have never programmed before, and start with how to carry out basic arithmetic and load data, and continue on through handling 3-dimensional satellite data and using for-loops and boolean statements.

Past courses taught

  • SOES3010/6005 (Large Scale Ocean Processes) - in 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17
  • SOES2025 (Methods in Oceanography) - in 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17
  • SOES6070 (Advanced oceanography fieldwork) - in 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15
  • SOES3016 (Oceanography from Space) - in 2012/13, 2013/14
  • UW OCN506 (Scientific figure design) - in 2008
  • as TA: UW AMATH505/OCN511/ATM511 (Introduction to Fluid Dynamics) - 2003/04

Undergraduate/MSc project supervision

I supervise up to 3 or 4 student projects each academic year, among MSc, MOcean and BSc projects. I start discussing topics around Jan-Feb each year, when MSc students start looking for projects. If you are an MSc or MOcean student, this is a good time to contact me about projects. If you are a BSc student, this is also a good time to talk to me about projects, though you will not typically select projects until later in the year. For a successful project, you will need to know how to use Matlab or some other programming language.

To get an idea of projects I have supervised in the past, see People.