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Chris Chickadel Principal Oceanographer Affiliate Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering chickadel@apl.washington.edu Phone 206-221-7673 |
Education
B.S. Oceanography, University of Washington, 1997
M.S. Oceanography, Oregon State University, 2003
Ph.D. Oceanography, Oregon State University, 2007
Projects
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Inner Shelf Dynamics The inner shelf region begins just offshore of the surf zone, where breaking by surface gravity waves dominate, and extends inshore of the mid-shelf, where theoretical Ekman transport is fully realized. Our main goal is to provide provide improved understanding and prediction of this difficult environment. This will involve efforts to assess the influence of the different boundaries surf zone, mid and outer shelf, air-water interface, and bed on the flow, mixing and stratification of the inner shelf. We will also gain information and predictive understanding of remotely sensed surface processes and their connection to processes in the underlying water column. |
15 Dec 2015
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COHerent STructures in Rivers and Estuaries eXperiment The experiment is a four-year collaborative project that couples state-of-the-art remote sensing and in situ measurements with advanced numerical modeling to characterize coherent structures in river and estuarine flows. |
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Coherent structures are generated in rivers and estuaries when the flow interacts with bathymetric and coastline features or when density stratification causes a gradient in surface properties. These coherent structures produce surface signatures that can be detected and quantified using remote sensing techniques. A second objective of this project is to determine the extent to which these remotely sensed signatures can be used to initialize and guide predictive models. |
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Tidal Flats Under an ONR-sponsored Department Research Initiative researchers are studying thermal signatures of inter-tidal sediments. The goal is to understand how sediment properties feedback on morphology and circulation, and the extent to which such properties |
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Videos
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APL-UW Remote Sensing Measurements of the Oso Mudslide Days after the devastating natural disaster in Oso, WA, APL-UW scientists outfitted a small plane with synthetic aperture radar, and thermal and visual radars to gather baseline data of the site conditions. These may help pinpoint the causes of the slide as the investigation continues and represent methods that could be used to monitor landslide prone slopes. |
4 Apr 2014
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DARLA: Data Assimilation and Remote Sensing for Littoral Applications Investigators completed a series of experiments in April 2013 at the mouth of the Columbia River, where they collected data using drifting and airborne platforms. DARLA's remote sensing data will be used to drive representations of the wave, circulation, and bathymetry fields in complex near-shore environments. |
5 Dec 2013
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COHSTREX Remote sensing instruments can characterize the physical flow parameters of rivers and estuaries, ultimately determining the navigability of the waters. |
1 Nov 2010
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Publications |
2000-present and while at APL-UW |
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Sea state single optical images: A methodology to derive wind-generated ocean waves from cameras, drones and satellites Almar, R., and 10 others including C. Chickadel, "Sea state single optical images: A methodology to derive wind-generated ocean waves from cameras, drones and satellites," Remote Sens., 13, doi:10.3390/rs13040679, 2021. |
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13 Feb 2021 ![]() |
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Sea state is a key variable in ocean and coastal dynamics. The sea state is either sparsely measured by wave buoys and satellites or modelled over large scales. Only a few attempts have been devoted to sea state measurements covering a large domain; in particular its estimation from optical images. With optical technologies becoming omnipresent, optical images offer incomparable spatial resolution from diverse sensors such as shore-based cameras, airborne drones (unmanned aerial vehicles/UAVs), or satellites. Here, we present a standalone methodology to derive the water surface elevation anomaly induced by wind-generated ocean waves from optical imagery. The methodology was tested on drone and satellite images and compared against ground truth. The results show a clear dependence on the relative azimuth view angle in relation to the wave crest. A simple correction is proposed to overcome this bias. Overall, the presented methodology offers a practical way of estimating ocean waves for a wide range of applications. |
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On the thermal signature of the residual foam in breaking waves Masnadi, N., C.C. Chickadel, and A.T. Jessup, "On the thermal signature of the residual foam in breaking waves," J. Geophys. Res., 126, doi:10.1029/2020JC016511, 2021. |
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18 Jan 2021 ![]() |
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Quantifying energy dissipation due to wave breaking remains an essential but elusive goal for studying and modeling air‐sea fluxes of heat, gas, and momentum. Previous observations have shown that lifetimes of bubble plumes and surface foam are directly related to the dissipated energy. Specifically, the foam decay time can be used to estimate the timescale of the subsurface bubble plume and the energy dissipated in the breaking process. A mitigating factor is that the foam decay time can be significantly affected by the surfactant concentration. Here we present an experimental investigation of a new technique that exploits the thermal signature of cooling foam to infer wave breaking dynamics. The experiments were conducted in a laboratory wave tank using artificial seawater with and without the addition of a surfactant. We show that the time from the start of the breaking process to the onset of cooling scales with the bubble plume decay time and the dissipated energy, and is not significantly affected by the presence of additional surfactants. We confirm observations from the field of the spatial variability of the temperature of foam generated by an individual breaking event, which has implications for inferring the spatial variability of bubble plume depth. |
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The Inner-Shelf Dynamics Experiment Kumar, N., and 49 others, including J. Thomson, M. Moulton, and C. Chickadel, "The Inner-Shelf Dynamics Experiment," Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., EOR, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0281.1, 2020. |
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31 Dec 2020 ![]() |
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The inner shelf, the transition zone between the surf zone and the mid shelf, is a dynamically complex region with the evolution of circulation and stratification driven by multiple physical processes. Cross-shelf exchange through the inner shelf has important implications for coastal water quality, ecological connectivity, and lateral movement of sediment and heat. The Inner-Shelf Dynamics Experiment (ISDE) was an intensive, coordinated, multi-institution field experiment from Sep.Oct. 2017, conducted from the mid shelf, through the inner shelf and into the surf zone near Point Sal, CA. Satellite, airborne, shore- and ship-based remote sensing, in-water moorings and ship-based sampling, and numerical ocean circulation models forced by winds, waves and tides were used to investigate the dynamics governing the circulation and transport in the inner shelf and the role of coastline variability on regional circulation dynamics. Here, the following physical processes are highlighted: internal wave dynamics from the mid shelf to the inner shelf; flow separation and eddy shedding off Point Sal; offshore ejection of surfzone waters from rip currents; and wind-driven subtidal circulation dynamics. The extensive dataset from ISDE allows for unprecedented investigations into the role of physical processes in creating spatial heterogeneity, and nonlinear interactions between various inner-shelf physical processes. Overall, the highly spatially and temporally resolved oceanographic measurements and numerical simulations of ISDE provide a central framework for studies exploring this complex and fascinating region of the ocean. |
In The News
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Researchers use thermal radars to better understand Oso mudslide cause, evolution GeekWire, Taylor Soper To understand the cause and evolution of the massive mudslide in Oso, Wash., University of Washington researchers are using aerial radars to create composite images. |
8 Apr 2014
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Infrared aerials reveal clues about Oso landslide KING 5 News, Glenn Farley Using airplane mounted radar and infrared cameras, researchers at the University of Washington's Applied Physics Lab are creating images and data of the Oso slide area. And it's information available to anybody who needs it, from agencies studying how the landslide happened to those working on recovery of victims. |
7 Apr 2014
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UW scientists take to the air with radar to examine Oso mudslide for clues Seattle PI (Post Intelligencer), Jake Ellison To help determine the causes and to better map conditions of the slide area for use later in comparing how the slide area evolves over time, University of Washington scientists teamed up with a radar company to survey the area from the air. |
7 Apr 2014
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