Research interests
- Surface gravity waves. I am interested in studying unsolved aspects related to spectral evolution of non-resonant three-wave interactions over uneven bathymetry, such as stochastic directional triads evolution, and large scale wave propagation over finite depth, which are still beyond forecasting capabilities of existing wave models.
- Infragravity (IG) waves. I have been studying mostly field data collected during the SandyDuck '97 experiment. I have developed new techniques to analyze the directional characteristics of IG waves. The long term goal is to understand the mechanisms for forcing and dissipation of IG trapped waves, and model their evolution.
- Wave-sediment interaction. For me this topic has developed in the last two years into a full program, due in a significant part to ONR interest and funding. The strong coupling of hydrodynamic and sedimentary processes complicates the problem by requiring a simultaneous treatment of wave, sediment, and current evolution. An additional complication has been highlighted during Hurricane Ivan: high sedimentation rates create typically unstable sea beds prone to collapsing and flowing under energetic hydrodynamic forcing.
- Field work, instrumentation, measurement techniques.
- Nonlinear waves, regarded as a general pattern of behavior of nonlinear dynamical systems. Data analysis methods, applied mathematics. These topics will probably always accupy some place on my interests list.