Physical Oceanography

The ocean is a vital component of our global climate system. In the physical oceanography group, we study the physical processes in the world’s oceans and how different water masses move. The main themes of our research concern the ocean’s role in the global climate, including the transport of warm surface water from the Equator toward the poles, and cold deep water from the poles toward the Equator. A particularly important part of the heat transport toward the Arctic flows right past our doorstep in the form of a branch of the Gulf Stream, which is monitored at the Svinøy section. This current contributes to Norway’s exceptionally mild climate despite its northern location.

Affiliation

About the research group

Vision

Perform society relevant research and foster a new generation of marine scientists by conducting high quality inter-disciplinary inclusive work on ocean physics.

Mission

The Geophysical Institute Physical Oceanography research group will research key processes and their interactions in the ocean to better understand the functioning of marine systems on different time and spatial scales. These processes and interactions range from millimeters to global scales, relevant for ice freezing, turbulent mixing, waves, tides, water mass transformation and Atlantic Overturning.

Our research in physical oceanography has the goal of increasing the understanding of physical and dynamical processes in the ocean and improving the description of ocean circulation and its variability. We place special attention on the polar regions, the Nordic Seas and the fjords around us. We study the ocean’s role in the climate system, the physical processes driving the ocean variability, and their interaction with marine ecosystems and ocean biogeochemistry. Our most important tools are advanced instruments and numerical models. We aim for sustainable observation methods with reduced environmental footprint, for sustainable data management and follow the FAIR data management principles. We aim to make our expertise in physical oceanography available to students and society in general and participate in trans-disciplinary projects contributing towards sustainable development.

Scientific Goals and targeted achievements

Ocean Climate: large scale circulation, deep water formation, water mass transformations.
Small scale dynamics: ocean mixing processes, turbulence, air-sea-ice interactions.
Polar Oceanography: ice shelves, marine-terminating glaciers, ice bergs and sea ice.
Coastal zones: fjord and overflow dynamics including coupling to marine ecosystems.
Observation technology: state-of-the-art instruments to improve key process understanding.