Melissa Omand

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Biography

Melissa Omand is an Oceanographer with broad interdisciplinary interests, applying her training in physics and physical oceanography to examine biogeochemical and ecological processes throughout the upper ocean and twilight zone. She designs low-cost instrumentation that will ultimately help quantify organic carbon fluxes over distributed, persistent scales. Melissa earned a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Guelph in 2004. After graduation she returned to Guelph to work on simulations of x-ray induced emissions by Martian rocks (observed by the NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity) in the PIXE group of Dr. Iain Campbell. In 2004, she entered a PhD program in Physical Oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography under advisors Drs. Falk Feddersen and Peter Franks. Her graduate work focused upon the transport and mixing of nutrients and red tide organisms in the inner shelf and surfzone. After graduation in 2011, she moved to Cape Cod, where she was a postdoctoral associate with Dr. Amala Mahadevan at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Since January 2015, she has held a faculty position at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography.

Research

Observational oceanography, physical-biological interactions, submesoscale processes, carbon export, ocean technology

Education

Ph.D. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Physical Oceanography, 2004-2011

BSc. Honors in Physics, University of Guelph, 1999-2003

Selected Publications

Omand, M.M., Govindarajan. R. and Mahadevan, A. (2015) Quantifying the sinking of oceanic particulate organic matter. submitted

Omand, M.M. and Mahadevan, A. (2015) Shape of the Oceanic Nitracline. submitted

Omand, M.M., Perry, M.J., D’Asaro, E., Lee, C., Briggs, N.A., Cetinic, I. and Mahadevan, A. (2015) Eddy-driven subduction exports particulate organic carbon from the spring bloom. Science, doi: 10.1126/science.1260062

Omand, M.M. and Mahadevan, A. (2013) Large-scale alignment of oceanic nitrate and density. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 118, p. 1–11, doi:10.1002/jgrc.20379

Omand, M.M, Feddersen, F., Guza, R.T. and Franks, P.J.S. (2012) Episodic vertical nutrient fluxes and nearshore phytoplankton blooms in Southern California. Limnology and Oceanography, 57(6) p. 1673-1688.

Omand, M.M, Leichter, J.L., Franks, P.J.S., Guza, R.T., Lucas, A.J., and Feddersen, F. (2011). Physical and Biological processes underlying the sudden appearance of a red-tide patch in the nearshore. Limnology and Oceanography, 56(3) p. 787-801.

Omand, M.M, Feddersen, F., Clark, D.B., Franks, P.J.S., Leichter, J.L., and Guza, R.T. (2009) The influence of bubbles and sand on Chlorophyll-a fluorescence measurements in the surfzone. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 7 p. 354-362.

Clark, D.B., Feddersen, F., Omand, M.M and Guza, R.T. (2009). Measuring fluorescent dye in the bubbly and sediment laden surfzone. Water, Soil and Air Pollution, 204(1-4) p. 103-115.

Omand, M.M, Campbell, J.L. and Maxwell, J.A. (2005) Simulation of the relationship
between element concentrations and X-ray yields in the Mars Exploration Rover’s X-
ray spectrometer. Nucl. Instrum. Meth. In Phys. Research B229 123-136.

Teaching

Introduction to Physical Oceanography (OCG501)
CSI Oceans: Coast and Shelf Investigations (HPR230G)