Charlotte Marris

My research seeks to understand how the processes controlling water mass transformation will be altered in a warming Arctic with less sea ice. Water masses modified in the Arctic are ultimately exported into the North Atlantic, and play a significant role in the large-scale ocean circulation, which is fundamental in setting the global distribution of heat and rainfall. However, it is unclear how the projected increase in Arctic warming and freshening will alter water mass transformation, and what the consequences will be for local and global climate. To address this uncertainty, I use ocean-climate model simulations to  analyse the role of air-sea fluxes of heat and freshwater in controlling water mass transformation across the Arctic, and investigate how these processes will vary under different projected climate change scenarios. This will enable us to better understand how the Arctic Ocean system will respond to future anthropogenic climate change.