Student Profile: Alejandra Sanchez-Franks and Katelin Childers

Katelin Childers and Alejandra Sanchez-Franks with the poster they presented at a recent Gordon Research Conference.

Communicating and sharing research results, information and ideas is an essential aspect of science. Alejandra Sanchez-Franks and Katelin Childers are second-year graduate students at SoMAS studying physical oceanography. They have just returned from the Gordon Research Conference on Coastal Ocean Modeling in South Hadley, Massachusetts where they presented a poster on near-inertial motions in the northeast Gulf of Mexico.

Gordon Research Conferences are designed to bring together researchers at all stages of their career to present and discuss new and unpublished ideas. At the meeting in South Haldey, talks on the applications and advances in ocean modeling were given in the mornings and evenings, with free time and poster sessions offered in the afternoon.

Alex and Katelin’s poster concerned the propagation of near-inertial motions through the mixed layer in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Inertial motions are the result of the Coriolis effect and have been observed in all oceans at a multitude of depths. By using EOF (Empirical Orthogonal Functions) to analyze inertial motions, the students were able to confirm that the general pattern of inertial motions follows a two-layer model in the water column with periods of possible northward propagation along the thermocline. Additionally, their work showed the importance of ambient vorticity in channeling inertial motions.

The conference offered Alex and Katelin a great opportunity to get feedback on their work from other scientists and a chance for them to see preliminary results of similar studies in other coastal regions. Both the poster session and the talks were highly interactive, providing attendees with a unique learning opportunity in a relaxed environment. The wide range of expertise represented among the conference participants coupled with a laid-back forum offered excellent opportunities to learn about current research in the field and a chance to be exposed to new ideas.