Suki C.K. Wong

Global Ocean Decadal Variability

Sparse ocean carbon observations pre-1990 have limited our understanding of long-term (multidecadal) changes in the ocean. With a new observations-based product that goes back to 1958, this project reveals 6 decades of decadal variability across the global ocean. Analysis of the decadal variability within each ocean basin also elucidates the processes that are driving decadally varying basin-scale patterns.

Equatorial Pacific Carbon

The equatorial Pacific Ocean is the largest natural oceanic source of CO2 to the atmosphere with large variability. To study the ocean’s ability to absorb future CO2 emissions, we need models of the Earth that can accurately capture variability in the equatorial Pacific. In this project, we assess variability across the latest generation of models and we examine their deviations from observations.

Click here to read the published results of this study!

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Jamaica Bay

Jamaica Bay is a coastal estuary situated in New York City. High inputs of carbon and nutrients from the city's wastewater treatmant plants influences the rate at which Jamaica Bay releases and uptakes CO2 from the atmosphere. In addition to estimating the rate of CO2 that goes in and out of the waters in Jamaica Bay, this project aims to understand the mechanisms that drive its seasonal variability.

Air-Sea Interaction Tower

In a joint effort with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), we designed and setup a boundary layer energy budget experiment, offshore of Martha's Vineyard, MA. Various optics were mounted on the Air-Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT) to record breaking waves, from which we can study the energy transfer across the water. More technically, the experiment hopes to estimate the rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy through the boundary layer: ~25m in the air, all the way down to the winter mixed layer depth in the ocean (~20m deep)