Joseph G. Fitzgerald

Contact:

  • email: jgfitzgerald at mun dot ca

  • office: Chemistry-Physics C4062

  • address: 283 Prince Philip Drive, St. John's, NL, Canada



Opportunities

Large-scale turbulence ('macroturbulence') plays an enormously important role in the Earth's ocean/atmosphere/climate system (and on other planets - see the photo of Jupiter's banded winds below). The time-mean ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream and the Atlantic gyres do not exist in a vacuum - they coexist virtually everywhere with a field of transient vortices of ~100km horizontal scale (called 'mesoscale eddies') that dominate the ocean's kinetic energy in most locations. These eddies, alongside a variety of wave motions including surface waves, internal waves, and inertial oscillations to name a few, play a crucial role in shaping the climate of the ocean and of the Earth in general. My group uses theory, numerical modelling, and observational data to unravel the physics of geophysical waves and turbulence across space and time scales.

Are you interested in pushing forward our understanding of waves and turbulence in the Earth's ocean and atmosphere? Do you enjoy physics, mathematics, and coding? I strongly encourage students interested in pursuing graduate studies at Memorial in Physical Oceanography to get in touch with me! I'm excited to work with students from a wide range of quantitative backgrounds including Physics, Mathematics, Earth Sciences, and Engineering, as well as other related disciplines.

Academic Bio

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador (MUN). I came to MUN in May 2022. Previously I was a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech, where I held the the Foster and Coco Stanback Postdoctoral Fellowship in Global Environmental Science working with the Callies group. Prior to 2018 I was a PhD student at Harvard University where I worked with Brian Farrell. My thesis investigated the dynamics of emergent coherent structures such as turbulent jets and density layers in stratified turbulence. For a list of publications, please see my Google Scholar profile.

Personal Bio

I grew up in the city of St. John's in Canada's beautiful province of Newfoundland & Labrador. I went to grade school at (the since-renamed) St. Kevin's Elementary and to high school at St. Kevin's High, both in the Goulds (the extra "the" is a naming quirk dear to the heart of all Gouligans). I did my undergraduate studies in the Physics & Math departments at Memorial University, where I did my senior thesis with Ivan Booth on particle trajectories around 'distorted' black holes. After that I spent a year at the University of Toronto (where I worked with Ted Shepherd, now at Reading) and another year at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (where I worked with Latham Boyle as part of the PSI program). My hobbies include nature walks, chess, racquetball, and following the NHL's Boston Bruins.