Dylan Oldenburg

Prepared and submitted a paper analysing the role of ocean heat transport and surface heat fluxes in driving Arctic Ocean warming and sea-ice loss in global climate model simulations. Currently working on understanding the local overturning at the Fram Strait and Barents Sea Opening, its role in Arctic climate changes, and its links to local buoyancy forcing and AMOC farther south.

Published a journal article using high- and low-resolution versions of a global climate model alongside atmospheric reanalysis-forced ocean simulations to show that a high-resolution ocean is necessary to accurately represent water-mass transformation in North Atlantic deepwater formation regions. Also used a pattern recognition method to determine that despite climatological differences between the low- and high-resolution models, the mechanisms of low-frequency AMOC variability are similar.

Analysed mechanisms of ocean heat transport into the Arctic. Studied mechanisms driving North Atlantic Ocean heat transport and AMOC in high- and low-resolution climate models. In particular, I used a unsupervised learning method called a low-frequency component analysis to isolate an index that emphasises low-frequency variance in the heat transport. I also calculated the lead-lag regressions between this index and other atmospheric and oceanic variables to analyse what drives the variability.

Worked with Dr. Libe Washburn on studying wind relaxations off the California coast using buoy and mooring data. Used conditional averaging in Matlab to determine average water flow patterns during wind relaxations. Gained Matlab data visualisation and analysis skills, and wrote a senior thesis.

Worked with Dr. Anna Nierenberg and Dr. Tommaso Treu to determine whether gravitational lens galaxies have an excess of luminous substructure compared to non-lens galaxies using python-based statistical methods. Gained python programming experience and learnt to analyse satellite data from different surveys.