Physical Oceanography
The specific intrests of the Department of Physical Oceanography span from great things to small. It runs from circulation of the ocean basins over years and centuries to the mixing and dissapative processes that occur on scales only centimeter in length. Specific research efforts include theoretical and field programs, analysis of observations, remote sensing, labratory experiments, and analytical and numerical modeling programs. Areas of special intrest include the structure and dynamics of the deep circulation,air-sea interaction,and the role of fresh water through evaporate and presipitation in the fomation and modification of water. It focuses on water motion in the estuaries and on the contiental shelf, buoyancy, suspended paricles, nutrients, and pollutants. Many eastern physical oceanographers have various field projects in the Chesapeake Bay. .