Climate and Fluid Physics Group

Use your skills in physics, mathematics or computational science to better understand our climate system.

Use physical experiments in the Climate & Fluid Physics Laboratory to further our understanding of Earth's climate system.

The melting of Antarctica’s marine-terminating ice sheets is controlled by heat delivered from the Southern Ocean to the Antarctic margins, and is the largest uncertainty in future sea level rise. We study the ocean-driven melting of ice sheets using laboratory and numerical models to understand the small- and large-scale processes that drive melt, and improve projections of future Antarctic melt rates.

Student projects in this area are available.

The circulation of the ocean around Antarctica is highly sensitive to climate change. Waters in critical regions are experiencing high warming rates, in recent years we have seen unprecedented record lows in sea ice extent, and the overturning circulation shows signs of warming and slowdown. Projects in this area will use state-of-the-art numerical models to deepen our understanding of the Antarctic margins circulation and its climatic relevance in the context of climate change.

Student projects in this area are available.

Turbulent mixing plays an important role in the oceanic circulation energy balance. Energy is input at large scales from tides and surface wind stresses, and provides the energy required to bring deep, dense water back towards the surface via mixing.

The ocean-atmosphere interface is a highly complex and extremely important part of the climate system. The dynamics and thermodynamics of the sea surface govern fluxes of heat, momentum and CO2 between the atmosphere.