ABOUT ME
I currently work as a contractor for SubCom, an undersea cable company. I work on the Desktop Study Team, identifying both natural and human-related risks to fiber-optic cable systems based on proposed routes. I obtain, analyze, and manage GIS-data to support cable/route engineering.
EDUCATION
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Seafloor mapping/bathymetric analysis
We know more about the surface of the moon and Mars than we do our own planet. The entire surface of both have been mapped at a resolution of about ~100 m. In comparison, global bathymetry datasets derived from satellite altimetry data can provide maps of the seafloor at a resolution of ~5 km. Only ~10% of the seafloor has been surveyed by surface vessels, capable of providing maps at a resolution of 100 m or better.
How can we truly hope the understand the dynamics of the planet we live on, when we know so little about the majority its surface?
I have worked with several different types of mapping systems including standard multibeam sonars hull-mounted on surface vessels, mapping AUVs, and mapping systems fielded on ROVs. During my postdoctoral work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, I helped develop a new mapping system that combines a multibeam sonar, a dual-head lidar system, and a stereo camera package. This system is capable of mapping the seabed on the centimeter scale!
The further we push the technology and the more we are able to resolve, the more discoveries we make. Who knows what is down there waiting to be revealed...
Marine Tectonics
Earth is dynamic. The surface is always moving and changing. The majority of Earth's tectonic plate boundaries are found in the ocean: mid-ocean ridges, where new seafloor is created; subduction zones, where old seafloor is destroyed; and transform faults, where two plates slide past each.
How do these different boundaries accommodate plate motion? How much is seismic versus aseismic? How does the structure of the boundary affect its behavior? And how can the use of seafloor mapping technologies help address these questions?
My Ph.D. research helped address some of these questions by correlating earthquake behavior and physical structure on oceanic transform faults. The research brought together the use of high-resolution bathymetric maps of transform faults, relocation of both local ocean bottom seismometer and global earthquake catalogs, and 3D finite element modeling of the underlying thermal structure of the fault. The results showed that how plate motion is accommodated along oceanic transform faults varies significantly along strike, and that seismic behavior correlates strongly with physical structure. Key to this is that the scale of the physical features found to correlate with the seismic behavior is such that most of it would not be discernible in bathymetry data acquired by satellite altimetry alone. We need higher-resolution maps of our seafloor. We need to push that 10% to 100%.
2015
University of New Hampshire
Ph.D. Geophysics
"The Relationship Between Oceanic Transform Fault Segmentation, Seismicity, and Thermal Structure"
2005
University of South Florida
M.Sc. Geological Oceanography
2001
Eckerd College
B.Sc. Marine Science
Undergrad Thesis:
"Interpretation of Granitic Flared Slopes in the Silent City of Rocks, Cassia County, ID"
AFFILIATIONS
2019 - present: Affiliate Research Professor, Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire
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2019 - present: Research Collaborator, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute