The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (GFD) group at UMBC is directed by Dr. Steve Guimond from the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET) and the Department of Physics at UMBC. We are an interdisciplinary group with student members from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Physics at UMBC and collaborations with students and faculty from similar departments at MIT, NJIT and the NPS. We also work closely with scientists and engineers at government laboratories including NASA, NOAA and the DOE.
Principally, geophysical fluid dynamics is the study of the underlying flows that govern the evolution of weather and climate on Earth. The range of spatial and temporal scales controlling the dynamics of geophysical fluid flows are vast and span several orders of magnitude from large-scale Rossby waves in the atmosphere to small-scale eddies responsible for viscous dissipation in the atmosphere and ocean. This wide range of scales, and particularly the nonlinear interactions between them, pose significant difficulties for observational systems and numerical simulations that limit our understanding and predictive capability of various phenomena, especially extreme weather events. The frequency of extreme weather events (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires, winter storms) appears to be increasing in the current climate and it is important to assess the current state of knowledge and perform research to improve upon this knowledge that will advance the performance of predictive models. Our group combines scientists and engineers studying geophysical fluid dynamics in extreme weather events on a wide range of spatial/temporal scales using all available tools (theory, modeling and observations).
Steve Guimond and the GFD group thanks the following government agencies for supporting our work:
