| Department Lead |  | 
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|  |  | Chris Chickadel Senior Principal Oceanographer Affiliate Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering |  | 
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| Research Areas |  |  | Research Tools |  | 
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Air-Sea Exchange—gas and heat, biogeochemical cycling, rainfallCoastal—rivers, tidal flats, nearshoreOcean/Atmosphere—climate change, ocean circulation, atmospheric rolls, hurricanesSensors—microwave, infrared, laser, hydrophone, dissolved gasWaves—wave breaking, internal waves |  | 
Our remote sensing tools span a wide range of scales  from satellite remote sensing, to field experiments using surface and airborne platforms, and to laboratory experiments in wave tanks. Remote sensing instruments used include electro-optical sensors (microwave, infrared, and laser) and acoustic sensors (sonars and hydrophones). | 
| Energy Harvested from a River in Alaska |  |  | Mapping Underwater Turbulence with Sound |  |  | Riding Waves to Generate Electricity |  | 
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A recently published paper details the flow conditions around a full-scale hydrokinetic river turbine. |  |  |  |  | 
| Projects | All |  | Media Coverage | All |  | Publications | All | 
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|  |  | Around the Americas  One Island One Ocean Andy Jessup, Harry Stern, Amanda Labrado, Jim Thomson 5 May 2025 |  
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|  |  | Arctic PISCES Jim Thomson, Jason Gobat, Craig Lee, Bonnie Light, Axel Schweiger 14 April 2025 |  
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|  |  | First Look at PACE Ocean Color Observations Ali Chase 26 April 2024 |  
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|  |  | 3 reasons why the Pacific Ocean tsunami fizzled before reaching WA The Seattle Times Conrad Swanson 30 July 2025 |  
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|  |  | How to see bioluminescence in Seattle's waterways Seattle Met Taylor McKenzie Gerlach 12 June 2025 |  
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|  |  | Why physicists are air-dropping buoys into the paths of hurricanes New Scientist James Dinneen 20 September 2024 |  
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|  |  | Global distribution and governing dynamics of submesoscale density fronts Whalen, C.B., and K. Drushka 1 October 2025 |  
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|  |  | Observations of wave development in gusty winds Hegermiller, C.A., and J. Thomson 28 September 2025 |  
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|  |  | Movement ecology of a deep-pelagic mesopredator, the bigscale pomfret: Implications for pelagic food web connectivity and fishery susceptibility Arostegui, M.C., D. Mears, P. Gaube, and C.D. Braun 18 September 2025 |  
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