WELCOME!

We are a group of “climate-minded” oceanographers who investigate how the ocean works and how the ocean is affected by and responds to the ever-changing climate. More specifically, we are interested in 1) physical changes and variability in the global ocean; 2) exchange of the upper and deep layers of the global ocean; 3) roles of mesoscale eddies in connecting different parts and layers of the global ocean. If you are interested in our research or have any questions, please reach us at xfliang at udel.edu.

Group News

2024

November

Our recent paper, “Salty Drift” of Argo Floats Affects the Gridded Ocean Salinity Products, was selected for featuring as an Editor’s Highlight and has just been published on AGU’s EOS https://eos.org/editor-highlights/are-rogue-argo-floats-skewing-ocean-salinity-data-products

Congratulations to Dr. Minghai Huang for starting his postdoc position at TAMU! He will be working on some exciting new science with the newly available SWOT data.

September

A new paper, “Salty Drift” of Argo Floats Affects the Gridded Ocean Salinity Products, was recently published in JGR-Oceans. In this paper, we identified the impacts of drifting Argo salinity measurements after 2015 on several widely used gridded ocean data products: an unrealistic global ocean salinification after 2015; and increased disagreements between those products after 2015. The paper can be openly accessed here: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023JC020871

May

Minghai was hooded as a PhD during the university ceremony! Congratulations to Dr. Minghai Huang!

2023

August

Congratulations to Minghai Huang for publishing his second paper this year in GRL. This paper is entitled “ENSO Modulates Mean Currents and Mesoscale Eddies in the Caribbean Sea” and can be accessed here: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023GL103958 

Congratulations to Dr. Chao Liu for starting his Postdoc Position at WHOI!

July

Another paper led by Yingli Zhu, Near-inertial oscillations in the deep Gulf of Mexico, was published in Deep-Sea Research Part II. In this paper, we collected and analyzed a large set of mooring measurements in the deep part of the GoM to describe and understand the NIO. Among many other findings, we found intense bottom-layer NIOs in the northern GoM and they are related to the low-frequency currents, likely through flow-topography interaction. The full paper can be found here https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1hS1X3Ruf1NaiV until Sep. 8, and a preprint can be found here https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372142878_Near-inertial_oscillations_in_the_deep_Gulf_of_Mexico 

January

One paper led by graduate student Minghai Huang was published in the Journal of Physical Oceanography.  In this paper, we described the seasonal variability of eddies in the Northwestern Tropical Atlantic Ocean and explored the underlying mechanisms using a novel analysis method. This paper can be found here: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/phoc/aop/JPO-D-22-0200.1/JPO-D-22-0200.1.xml

2022

December

One paper led by Yingli Zhu was published in Frontiers in Marine Science. In this paper, we describe the spatial and temporal characteristics of the Eulerian mesoscale eddies in the Gulf of Mexico based on multi-decade satellite data. The paper can be found here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1087060/full

May

I gave a department seminar talk at UD to review the activities of our group over the past few years. A recording of the talk can be found here https://capture.udel.edu/media/SMSP+Spring+2022+Colloquia+Speaker+Series+-+Dr.+Xinfeng+Liang/1_6g3ml806/187881983

April

Our paper on the western boundary current upwelling was selected as a Research Spotlight by AGU EOS https://eos.org/research-spotlights/hidden-upwelling-systems-may-be-overlooked-branches-of-ocean-circulation

March

After a long and bumpy journey, our paper on the upwelling associated with the major Western Boundary Currents was finally accepted in JGR-Oceans. We believe this upwelling is an overlooked branch of the global ocean circulation. A preprint can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358948170_Hidden_Upwelling_Systems_Associated_with_Major_Western_Boundary_Currents

2021

July

Our paper entitled “A Comparison of the Variability and Changes in Global Ocean Heat Content from Multiple Objective Analysis Products During the Argo Period” was accepted by the Journal of Climate. A preprint can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352906970_A_Comparison_of_the_Variability_and_Changes_in_Global_Ocean_Heat_Content_from_Multiple_Objective_Analysis_Products_During_the_Argo_Period

May

Yang Zhang‘s paper on the Regional Trends in Southern Ocean Eddy Kinetic Energy was published in JGR-Oceans. The paper can be found at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020JC016973

January

Minghai Huang‘s paper on the roles of mesoscale eddies in connecting the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico was accepted by GRL. A preprint of this paper can be found at https://www.essoar.org/doi/10.1002/essoar.10504535.1.