GFDL - Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

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Anand Gnanadesikan


Dr. Anand Gnanadesikan
NOAA GFDL
609-987-5062
anand.gnanadesikan AT noaa.gov

I am an oceanographer in the Oceans and Climate Group at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory and a lecturer in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program at Princeton University.

My primary interests are in the vertical circulation of the ocean and the connections between physical circulation, the biosphere, and large-scale ocean chemistry.


Click here for papers submitted and in press.

Click here to learn about a new simplified biogeochemistry model I've been developing with colleagues.

Click here for my GFDL Bibliography page.

Click here for a full CV.

Interviews

Really want to find out more about me and what I do? Here's a podcast.

Here's a shorter one, focusing on my ocean color work.

Outreach

I am also extensively involved in outreach, though programs such as Science Olympiad, the largest national team science competition for secondary schools and through working with museums to help bring up-to-date science into exhibitions.

Science Olympiad Students and Coaches Click Here

Current Projects



Large scale ocean circulation

Sea surface height- showing high in Pacific, low in Atlantic (NASA JPL)


The ocean shapes global climate directly by moving heat from the equator to the poles and from the South Atlantic to the North Atlantic. I try to understand the physics controlling this "great ocean conveyor". The signature of this conveyor can be seen in the plot of sea surface height at left, higher sea level in the Pacific and lower sea level in the Atlantic. To learn more about this work, click here.

Ocean color and climate

Ocean water isn't really blue, because it contains colored materials that absorb sunlight. For more about how the resulting absorption changes the world in which we live click here.

Global biogeochemical cycling

Observed Surface Nutrients
The waters of the deep ocean are chemically quite different from surface waters, lower in oxygen and radiocarbon, higher in nutrients and primordial helium-3. To see some of what we're doing to understand the distribution and of chemicals and biologically important elements in the ocean click here.