Department of Mathematics
Modeling Floats and Pollutants in the Ocean
Jodi Mead
Boise State University
A good physical understanding of the ocean is necessary to (1) produce accurate short term weather forecasts, (2) give long term climate predictions, and (3) understand the effect of pollutants in the water. Deterministic partial differential equations, such as the Navier-Stokes equations, describe the dynamic process between pressure, temperature and velocity in the ocean. Data collected from the ocean can supplement these solutions.
There are two basic ways to collect data from the ocean. One is to place moorings attached to the ocean floor. A second and less costly way, is to place floats in the ocean, let them drift, and collect their data by satellite.
My work in oceanography involves solving a variant of the Navier-Stokes equation (the shallow water equations) from the viewpoint of floats, or pollutants in the water. This is a novel approach because most researchers find solutions at a fixed point in space (similar to what a mooring does). I will show some results from this model, and outline future work.
All interested persons are welcome.
The talk will be accessible to upper class students.