Center for Atmosphere-Ocean Science

The Center for Atmosphere Ocean Science is a unit of the Department of Mathematics, within the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.  Our mission is to advance our understanding of and ability to predict the coupled atmosphere, ocean and ice system through the use of mathematical and computational tools and analysis of observations; and to train the next generation of leading theoretical and computational climate scientists to face one of the most consequential problems of the 21st century.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: The Center for Atmosphere Ocean Science comprises students, postdocs and faculty. Our program values equity, diversity and inclusion as essential elements of an effective, safe and ethical research and educational environment.   It is our responsibility to remove barriers to knowledge and resources that limit access for marginalized groups;  to create a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all our members and the communities with which we interact; and to continually evaluate ourselves, our program, and our educational and research outcomes to ensure we live up to these standards.

News & Research

  • Andrew Majda, 1949-2021

    April 16, 2021
    Andy at his 70th birthday celebration at the University of Victoria

    CAOS mourns the passing of our colleague, and the Center's founder, Professor Andrew Majda. You may read more about Andy's remarkable life, and outsized contributions to mathematics and science, here. Read More

  • Centennial response of Greenland’s three largest outlet glaciers

    Jan. 5, 2021
    Scientific diagrams showing three dimensional maps and ice loss in Greenland

    David Holland and colleagues have used historical photographs to extend the climate record of ice loss in Greenland back beyond the modern satellite era to almost a century and a half ago. The study significantly improves the temporal resolution of ice loss during that period showing a complex multi decadal pattern of increased and lessened loss rates. Read More

  • Heat and carbon coupling reveals ocean warming due to circulation changes

    Sept. 23, 2020
    Scientific diagram revealing changes in added heat in the world's oceans over time and predicted through 2060.

    Laure Zanna and Ben Bronselaer developed a new method to analyze the global uptake of heat and carbon in the ocean. Their results show that ocean warming patterns will increasingly be influenced by simple uptake of atmospheric warming, making them easier to predict. This is in contrast to the past 60 years, over which time circulation changes have been viewed as key factors in shaping ocean warming patterns. Read More

  • Statistical forecasting of the El Nino Southern Oscillation

    Feb. 25, 2020
    Scientific diagram showing sea surface temperature anomaly

    CAOS researchers Xinyang Wang and Dimitris Giannakis in collaboration with Joanna Slawinska of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have developed a data-driven technique for statistical forecasting of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), based on a combination of kernel methods for machine learning with techniques from operator-theoretic ergodic theory.  Read More

  • Untangling waves and vortices from limited observations

    Feb. 6, 2020
    A schematic of plane and ship.

    CAOS researchers H. Wang and O.Bühler have developed a numerically robust algorithm to decompose the 1-D energy spectra obtained from ship/aircraft data sets.  This work is featured in Focus on Fluids by Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Read More

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