Leif Thomas

Research
My research interests center on the physics of the ocean circulation. Specifically, I seek to understand the dynamics of highly energetic, time-variable flows such as ocean fronts, vortices, and eddies. Such flows efficiently exchange heat, salt, nutrients, and dissolved gases between the surface of the ocean and the ocean interior and hence play an important role in the Earth's climate and the oceanic sequestration of carbon. I use theory, computer modeling, and field observations to characterize the fundamental physics of the ocean circulation with the goal of improving the oceanic component of computer models used to predict future climate change.

Teaching
I teach a graduate-level course in geophysical fluid dynamics and an introductory-level course on atmosphere, ocean, and climate dynamics, with emphasis on the large-scale circulation of the atmosphere and the ocean. I also co-teach a course on Earth System Dynamics. In the future, I plan to offer courses on upper-ocean processes and numerical modeling of the ocean circulation at regional and large-scales.

Professional Activities
Assistant Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (2005-08); invited speaker, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Summer Program, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (2007); member of the American Geophysical Union and American Meteorological Society; session co-chair AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting, Eddies, Fronts and Sub-Mesoscale Processes In The Upper Ocean (2008); member of the NSF funded Climate Process Team on Eddy Mixed Layer Interactions; reviewer for NSF, NOAA and several scientific journals