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Ou Wang

Photo of Ou Wang

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 300-323

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

818.393.3204

Fax:

818.393.6720

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Ocean Circulation And Air Sea Interaction

Technologist

Employed By

Caltech/JPL

Education

  • B.S. Physical Oceanography, Ocean University of Qingdao, China (1992)
  • Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography, Department of Oceanography, TexasA&M University (2002)

Professional Experience

  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (2007-Present)
  • University of California, Los Angeles - Assistant Researcher (2006-2007)
  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology - Postdoctoral Research Associate (2003-2006)
  • Texas A&M University, Department of Oceanography - Physical Oceanography Section (1998-2003)
    • Postdoctoral Research Associate (2002-2003)
    • Research Assistant (1998-2002)

Research Interests

  • Ocean state estimation through adjoint method and Kalman filter
  • Adjoint sensitivity studies of ocean state
  • Global and regional sea level change
  • Large-scale ocean dynamics and thermodynamics
  • Technical point of contact for the end-to-end elements of the ECCO ocean state estimation system including input forcing and observations, forward model and assimilation codes, production, outputs, documentations, and analysis tools

Selected Awards

  • 2024 JPL Voyager Award
  • 2021 NASA Group Achievement Award
  • 2020 JPL Voyager Award
  • 2014 JPL Mariner Award

Selected Publications

  1. Ou Wang, Tong Lee, Thomas Frederikse, Rui M. Ponte, Ian Fenty, Ichiro Fukumori, and Benjamin D. Hamlington (2024). What forcing mechanisms affect the interannual sea level co-variability between the Northeast and Southeast Coasts of the United States? Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 129, e2023JC019873. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JC019873
  2. Christopher G. Piecuch, Ichiro Fukumori, Rui M. Ponte, Michael Schindelegger, Ou Wang, and Mengnan Zhao (2022). Low-Frequency Dynamic Ocean Response to Barometric-Pressure Loading. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 52, 2627-2641. https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-22-0090.1
  3. Frederikse, Thomas, Tong Lee, Ou Wang, Ben Kirtman, Emily Becker, Ben Hamlington, Daniel Limonadi, and Duane Waliser (2022). A hybrid dynamical approach for seasonal prediction of sea-level anomalies: A pilot study for Charleston, South Carolina. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127, e2021JC018137. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC018137
  4. Ou Wang, Tong Lee, Christopher G. Piecuch, Ichiro Fukumori, Ian Fenty, Thomas Frederikse, Dimitris Menemenlis, Rui M. Ponte, and Hong Zhang (2022). Local and remote forcing of interannual sea-level variability at Nantucket Island. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127, e2021JC018275. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC018275
  5. Chandanpurkar, Hrishikesh A., Tong Lee, Xiaochun Wang, Hong Zhang, Severine Fournier, Ian Fenty, Ichiro Fukumori, Dimitris Menemenlis, Christopher G. Piecuch, John T. Reager, Ou Wang, John Worden (2022). Influence of nonseasonal river discharge on sea surface salinity and height. J. Adv. Model. Earth Sys., 14, e2021MS002715. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002715
  6. Fukumori, Ichiro, Ou Wang, and Ian Fenty (2021). Causal Mechanism of Beaufort Sea’s Sea-level and Freshwater Content Change, Journal of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 51, Issue 10. https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-21-0069.1
  7. Zhao, Mengnan, Rui M. Ponte, Ou Wang, and Rick Lumpkin (2021). Using Drifter Velocity Measurements to Assess and Constrain Coarse-Resolution Ocean Models, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 38, Issue 4. https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-20-0159.1.
  8. Nakayama, Yoshihiro, Dimitris Menemenlis, Ou Wang, Hong Zhang, Ian Fenty, and An T. Nguyen (2021). Development of adjoint-based ocean state estimation for the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas and ice shelf cavities using MITgcm/ECCO, Geoscientific Model Development, Vol. 15, Issue 8. doi:10.5194/gmd-14-4909-2021.
  9. Severine, Fournier, Tong Lee, Xiaochun Wang, Thomas W. K. Armitage, Ou Wang, Ichiro Fukumori, Ron Kwok, 2020. Sea Surface Salinity as a Proxy for Arctic Ocean Freshwater Changes, Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, Vol. 125, Issue 7, Article Number: e2020JC016110, DOI: 10.1029/2020JC016110.
  10. Liu, Chao, Xinfeng Liang, Rui M. Ponte, Nadya Vinogradova, and Ou Wang, 2019: Vertical redistribution of salt and layered changes in global ocean salinity, Nature Communications, Vol. 10, Article number 3445, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11436-x.
  11. Khazendar, Ala, Ian Fenty, Dustin Carroll, Alex Gardner, Craig M. Lee, Ichiro Fukumori, Ou Wang, Hong Zhang, Hélène Seroussi, Delwyn Moller, Brice P. Noël, Michiel R. den Broeke, Steven Dinardo, and Josh Willis, 2019: Interruption of two decades of Jakobshavn Isbrae acceleration and thinning as regional ocean cools, Nature Geoscience, Vol. 10, Issue 4, DOI: 10.1038/s41561-019-0329-3.
  12. Heimbach, Patrick, et al., Putting it all together: adding value to the global ocean and climate observing systems with complete self-consistent ocean state and parameter estimates, 2019. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, UNSP 55, doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00055.
  13. Storto, Andrea, et al., 2017. Steric sea level variability (1993-2010) in an ensemble of ocean reanalyses and objective analyses, Climate Dynamics, Vol. 49, Issue 3, 709-729, DOI: 10.1007/s00382-015-2554-9.
  14. Toyoda, Takahiro, et al., 2017. Intercomparison and validation of the mixed layer depth fields of global ocean syntheses, Climate Dynamics, Vol. 49, Issue 3, 753-773, DOI: 10.1007/s00382-015-2637.
  15. Toyoda, Takahiro, et al., 2017. Interannual-decadal variability of wintertime mixed layer depths in the North Pacific detected by an ensemble of ocean syntheses, Climate Dynamics, Vol. 49, Issue 3, 891-907, DOI: 10.1007/s00382-015-2762-3.
  16. Palmer, M. D., et al. 2017. Ocean heat content variability and change in an ensemble of ocean reanalyses, Climate Dynamics, Vol. 49, Issue 3, 909-930, DOI: 10.1007/s00382-015-2801-0.
  17. Takamitsu, Ito Ou Wang, 2017. Transit Time Distribution Based on the ECCO-JPL Ocean Data Assimilation, Journal of Marine Systems, Vol 167, 1-10, DOI: 10.1016/j.jmarsys.2016.10.015.
  18. Fukumori, Ichiro, Ou Wang, William Llovel, Ian Fenty, Gael Forget, A near-uniform fluctuation of ocean bottom pressure and sea level across the deep ocean basins of the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas, Progress in Oceanography, 2015, 134, 152-172, doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2015.01.013.
  19. Piecuch, Christopher G., Ichiro Fukumori, Rui M. Ponte, Ou Wang, 2015. Vertical Structure of Ocean Pressure Variations with Application to Satellite-Gravimetric Observations, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 32, Issue 3, 603-613, DOI: 10.1175/JTECH-D-14-00156.1.
  20. Balmaseda, M. A., et al., 2015. The Ocean Reanalyses Intercomparison Project (ORA-IP), Journal of Operational Oceanography, Vol. 8, S80-S97, DOI: 10.1080/1755876X.2015.1022329.
  21. Vinogradova, Nadya T., Rui M. Ponte, Ichiro Fukumori, Ou Wang, 2014. Estimating satellite salinity errors for assimilation of Aquarius and SMOS data into climate models, Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, Vol. 119, Issue 8, 4732-4744, DOI: 10.1002/2014JC009906.
  22. Fukumori, Ichiro, Ou Wang, Origins of heat and freshwater anomalies underlying regional decadal sea level trends, Geophysical Research Letter, 2013, 40(3), 563-567, doi:10.1002/grl.50164.
  23. Lee, Tong, William R. Hobbs, Joshua K. Willis, Daria Halkides, Ichiro Fukumori, Edward M. Armstrong, Akiko K. Hayashi, W. Timothy Liu, William Patzert, Ou Wang, 2010. Record warming in the South Pacific and western Antarctica associated with the strong central-Pacific El Nino in 2009-10, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 37, L19704, DOI: 10.1029/2010GL044865.
  24. Lee, Tong, Ou Wang, Wenqing Tang, W. Timothy Liu, 2008. Wind stress measurements from the QuikSCAT-SeaWinds scatterometer tandem mission and the impact on an ocean model, Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, Vol. 113, Issue C12, C12019, DOI: 10.1029/2008JC004855.
  25. Wang, Ou, Ichiro Fukumori, Tong Lee, Benny Cheng, On the cause of Eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean T-S variations associated with El Nino, Geophysical Research Letter, 2004, 31, L15309, doi:10.1029/2004GL020188.
  26. Reid, Robert O., and Ou Wang, Bottom-trapped Rossby waves in an exponentially stratified ocean, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 2004, 961-967.
  27. Wang, Ou, Ichiro Fukumori, Tong Lee, Gregory C. Johnson, Eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean T-S variations with El Nino, Geophysical Research Letter, 2004, 31, L04305, doi:10.1029/2003GL019087.

Projects

ECCO
NASA Sea Level Change Team