Michael Bates
 Climate Change Research Centre
School of Mathematics
University of New South Wales
Sydney
NSW 2052
Australia
m dot bates student dot unsw etc.

I am currently a MASCOS PhD student enrolled in the School of Mathematics and Statistics under Professor Matthew England. I am affiliated with the Climate Change Research Centre.

I am interested in the dynamics of the ocean and the representation of these dynamics in coarse resolution global scale ocean models. My main areas of interest are:

  • Examining the representation of open ocean convection and downslope flows in global scale coarse resolution ocean models. Both of these processes are sub-grid scale processes which are relatively poorly resolved in existing coarse resolution models.
  • The dynamics of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, particularly the mechanisms responsible for instigation and termination of warm and cold events.

    • I completed a Physics degree at the University of Sydney in 2003 and did Honours in Marine Science in 2004 at the University of New South Wales. From 2005 to 2007 (inclusive) I worked for a tour company in Papua New Guinea. I then started my PhD in January 2008.

    Peer Reviewed Publications
    Sijp, W.P., Bates, M.L., and M.H. England, 2006: Can isopycnal mixing control the stability of the thermohaline circulation in ocean climate models? J. Climate, 19, 5637-5651.
    Bates, M.L., M.H. England, and W.P. Sijp, 2005: On the multi-century Southern Hemisphere response to changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration in a global climate model. Met. Atmos. Physics, 89, 17-36

    Other Reports/Publications
    Bates, M.L., 2005: On the multi-century Southern Hemisphere response to changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration in a global climate model, Honours thesis, v + 86pp. pdf

    Reviewer for
  • Ocean Modelling
    • Professional Memberships
  • The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
    • Personal
    I enjoy caving, diving, bushwalking and cycling. I am also a Linux enthusiast!
    Oceanography-type Links
  • Scipy, Matplotlib and Numpy -- Scientific tools for Python. These are fantastic websites if you are getting into Pyhton for scientific analysis, and is a good (free) alternative to Matlab(R).
  • The ARC Research Network for Earth System Science
  • IRI/LDEO Cliamte Data Library a catalogue -- with more data sets than you can poke a stick at
  • Various ocean/coupled climate model pages: ACCESS, CCSM, The Flexible Modelling System (including MOM4), MPI-OM, OPA
    • Other Interesting Links
  • The Sydney University Speleological Society
  • Sidux Linux, a user friendly, but powerful Linux distro based on the unstable branch of Debian
  • Bicycle NSW A bicycle lobby group
  • Wikipedia never ceases to amaze me with the diversity and detail of information contained within it!
    • Last updated 7 August, 2008