John Marshall Research Group

Research is directed at understanding the cause of the general circulation of the oceans, its interaction with the atmosphere and its role in the global climate and climate change.  Through the use of analytical, numerical and, on occasion, laboratory models, I illustrate ideas and test them out in the light of observations.

The Marshall Group strives to make research directly applicable to natural phenomena.  In this sense it is very applied. Real physical problems, such as the ones we are challenged by in meteorology and oceanography, can seldom be solved exactly.  Instead, work is directed at understanding, in broad terms, how the component parts of the general circulation work together. This often involves studying key mechanisms and phenomena in great detail. The Group works on the premise that, despite seeming complication, the observed facts can be ordered by theory iin a simple way. The mathematical and numerical experiments constructed are purposefully transparent and uncomplicated, carefully designed to illustrate how a particular process works.  Research papers have a strong pedagogical nature and are always focused directly on the problem at hand. 

Research focuses on important, and usually difficult, problems of the ocean circulation involving interactions between motions on different scales. I approach these problems using observations, theory, laboratory experiments, and new innovative approaches to global ocean and climate modeling.