Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Choi, Seo-eun
URN	etd-07092007-135304
Title	A Statistical Approach to an Ocean Circulation Inverse Problem
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	Statistics, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Fred W. Huffer Committee Co-Chair Kevin G. Speer Committee Co-Chair Craig Nolder Committee Member Wei Wu Committee Member Xufeng Niu Committee Member
Keywords	MCMC Gibbs Sampler Gulf Stream
Date of Defense	2007-07-05
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This dissertation presents, applies, and evaluates a statistical approach to an ocean circulation problem. The objective is to produce a map of ocean velocity in the North Atlantic based on sparse measurements along ship tracks, based on a Bayesian approach with a physical model. The Stommel Gulf Stream model which relates the wind stress curl to the transport stream function is the physical model. A Gibbs sampler is used to extract features from the posterior velocity field. To specify the prior, the equation of the Stommel Gulf Stream model on a two-dimensional grid is used. Comparisons with earlier approaches used by oceanographers are also presented.
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