CGCS Directory
Glenn R. Flierl
Affiliations
EAPS, CGCS
Research Interests: Glenn Flierl is an oceanographer concerned with the theory of geophysical vortices and jets. His interests include modeling the physics, chemistry, and biology of strongly nonlinear ocean eddies and meandering jets, such as the Gulf Stream, which meander around their average paths with wave-like features having many different scales and periods, with resulting nonlinearities playing a significant role in the dynamics. He uses various analytical and numerical models to analyze the dynamics of features such as vortices in vertically and horizontally sheared flows, and the interactions between waves and vortices, and makes comparisons to recent observational studies.
Selected Publications:
O'Neill, M. E. and Emanuel, K. A. and Flierl, G. R. (2015) Polar vortex formation in giant-planet atmospheres dues to moist convection Nature Geoscience, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 523-U118
Chen, R. and Flierl, G. R. (2015) The Contribution of Striations to the Eddy Energy Budget and Mixing: Diagnostic Frameworks and Results in a Quasigeostrophic Barotropic System with Mean Flow Journal of Physical Oceanography, vol. 45, no. 8, pp. 2095-2113
Chen, R. and Flierl, G. R. and Wunsch, C. (2015) Quantifying and Interpreting Striations in a Subtropical Gyre: A Spectral Perspective Journal of Physical Oceanography, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 387-406
Chen, R. and Gille, S. T. and McClean, J. L. and Flierl, G. R. and Griesel, A. (2015) A Multiwavenumber Theory for Eddy Diffusivities and Its Application to the Southeast Pacific (DIMES) Region Journal of Physical Oceanography, vol. 45, no. 7, pp. 1877-1896
Flierl, G. R. and Woods, N. W. (2015) Copepod Aggregations: Influences of Physics and Collective Behavior Journal of Statistical Physics, vol. 158, no. 3, pp. 665-698
Olson, E. M. and McGillicuddy, D. J. and Flierl, G. R. and Davis, C. S. and Dyhrman, S. T. and Waterbury, J. B. (2015) Mesoscale eddies and Trichodesmium spp. distributions in the southwestern North Atlantic Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, vol. 120, no. 6, pp. 4129-4150
Contact Information
t: 617-253-4692
e: glenn@lake.mit.edu
w: https://eapsweb.mit.edu/people/grflierl
In the News
Education
Ph.D., Physics, Harvard University, 1975