Top models: Huijie Xue gazes into the future of the Gulf of Maine
April 17th, 2009 by Ari Daniel Shapiro | Filed in Ocean Gazing Podcast
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5, rated)
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Huijie Xue smiles when her virtual ocean model matches what the real ocean is doing. Credit: Jim Campbell.
On this episode of Ocean Gazing, Huijie Xue, a professor at the University of Maine, discusses how she makes ocean forecasts for the Gulf of Maine. Xue adds, “Definitely for us, it’s a fascinating playground.”
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Photographs
 When modeling the Gulf of Maine, Xue and her students crunch a lot of physics and math. Credit: Jim Campbell. |
 Xue fuels her model with temperature, salinity and current information that she can find online. Credit: Jim Campbell. |
Web Resources
Huijie Xue’s homepage
Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System
Hear Huijie Xue say more about:
Modeling lobster distributions
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How ocean modeling is like weather forecasting
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Video, courtesy of Huijie Xue
Gulf of Maine ocean model prepared by Huijie Xue at the University of Maine. The green/blue background is the bathymetry, the brown/purple sheet is the 32 ppt (parts per thousand) salinity isosurface, and the arrows are velocity vectors (ranging from a 5-60 centimeters per second). The animation starts showing the entire model domain including the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, part of the Scotian shelf and northern slope region. It then zooms in as it flies from Georges Bank and the Northeast Channel northward to the Maine coast.
Tags: buoy, codar, gulf of maine, huijie xue, modeling, physical oceanography, satellite
This site was developed with the support of the National Science Foundation under Grant No. OCE-0730719. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
[...] Huijie Xue forecasts the underwater weather of the Gulf of Maine: its temperature, its salinity, and its currents. And a lot of people are tuning in. Listen to episode 6 of the Ocean Gazing podcast. [...]
Thank you once again for a great story. I found the modeling lobster distributions piece interesting as well and is a great story to use while explaining to younger students how many people use models everyday.