Observing Ocean Circulation

Observing ocean circulation

Observing ocean circulation

Physical Oceanography Department

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Our lab is focused on observing ocean circulation and understanding its underlying physics. Ultimately, we seek to quantify the role of ocean circulation in the climate system. Specific areas of interest include:

  • The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), an intricate system of currents that stabilizes the earth’s climate by redistributing heat, salt, oxygen, and carbon on a global scale.

  • High-latitude ocean dynamics and the linkages between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

More details about current research projects can be found below

Learn more about joining the Le Bras lab

Principal Investigator

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Isabela Le Bras

Assistant Scientist
Physical Oceanography Department

Graduate Students

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Hiroki Nagao

Ph.D. student
MIT-WHOI Joint Program
Physical Oceanography

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Marta Faulkner

Ph.D. student
MIT-WHOI Joint Program
Physical Oceanography

Postdocs

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Leo Middleton

WHOI Postdoc

Alumni

Clara Barden

WHOI undergraduate SSF fellow
Summer 2024
with Mike Spall, WHOI

Megan Knight

WHOI undergraduate SSF fellow
Summer 2021

Nash Keyes

Undergraduate researcher
Summer 2021
with Mary-Louise Timmermans, Yale

Research Projects

MEZCAL

Methods for Extending the horiZontal Coverage of the Amoc Latitudinally and retrospectively

Western Irminger Sea Ventilation

Investigating the processes that govern boundary current ventilation using year-round moored observations of oxygen in the western Irminger Sea.

SNAP-DRAGON

Subpolar North Atlantic Processes - Dynamics and pRedictability of vAriability in Gyre and OverturNing. A UK-US collaboration to improve our understanding of a key ocean region.

Beaufort Gyre Observing System

The Beaufort Gyre is one of the Arctic Ocean’s main dynamical sea-ice and ocean circulation systems, its major freshwater reservoir, and a centerpiece for Arctic and global change.

AMOC connectivity

We are compiling a novel dataset at about 37N using satellite, float, and mooring observations to test the connectivity of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

Oxygen cycling in the Irminger Sea

Probing the physical and biological controls on the Irminger Seas’s oxygen cycle using moored Oceans Observatories Initiative (OOI) and Bio-Argo data.

Recent Publications

Destratifying and Restratifying Instabilities During Down-Front Wind Events: A Case Study in the Irminger Sea

Observations indicate that symmetric instability is active in the East Greenland Current during strong northerly wind events. …
DOI URL

Declining O2 in the Canada Basin Halocline Consistent With Physical and Biogeochemical Effects of Pacific Summer Water Warming

The Arctic Ocean’s Canada Basin (CB) has seen significant changes in ocean properties in the past two decades. A prominent change …
DOI URL

Glacial Meltwater in the Current System of Southern Greenland

The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass at an accelerating pace, increasing its contribution to the freshwater input into the Nordic …
DOI URL

Labrador Sea Water Spreading and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

DOI

Mixing and Air--Sea Buoyancy Fluxes Set the Time-Mean Overturning Circulation in the Subpolar North Atlantic and Nordic Seas

The overturning streamfunction as measured at the OSNAP (Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program) mooring array represents …
DOI URL
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