Dr. Michael A. Spall
Senior Scientist
Physical Oceanography
Contact Information:
Work: 508-289-3342
mspall@whoi.edu
Clark Lab 311A
Mailing Address:
266 Woods Hole Road, MS #21
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Education
B.S., Clarkson College of Technology, 1980, Mechanical Engineering
M.S., Clarkson College of Technology, 1982, Mechanical Engineering
S.M., Harvard University, 1984, Applied Mathematics
Ph.D., Harvard University, 1988, Applied Mathematics
Research Interests
My primary areas of research fall under the broad heading of the large scale oceanic circulation and its low frequency variability. I am interested in the dynamics of the wind- and buoyancy driven gyres, circulation in marginal seas, and the basin-scale thermohaline circulation, as well as the generation of mesoscale variability (time scales of months, length scales of 100-1000 km) and its influences on the mean circulation. I tend to approach problems from a numerical/theoretical point of view but try to incorporate observations into my analysis whenever possible.