Donglai Gong

My research explores the physical processes that drives the interactions between the coastal and the open ocean. I am involved in studies of the dynamics of coastal boundary currents, the along-shelf and cross-shelf transport of heat and freshwater, the transformation of water masses in marginal seas, and the effect of submarine canyons on shelfbreak circulation. My research encompasses both the polar region, where rapid climate change is occurring, and the temperate region, where most human populations reside. Currently I am studying the transport and the transformation of Pacific water masses in the Chukchi Sea (north of Bering Strait), and the variability of cross-shelf-basin exchange flow over the Mid-Atlantic Bight. These two regions, the Chukchi and the MAB, represent the end points of the extended coastal flow connecting the western Arctic and major population centers on the east coast of the United States. My goals is to increase our understanding of this important coastal pathway which maybe significantly affected by climate change.