Young-Oh Kwon

My research primarily revolves around one question, “what is the role of the ocean in climate?” More specifically, my research focuses on the variability in the ocean and atmosphere, and the interaction between the two in the extra-tropics on time scales of a few years to several decades. I use combination of the historical observational data and global climate models to address above question. Combining these two tools, I focus on the following three major areas: (1) mechanisms for interannual-to-decadal variability of the western boundary currents (WBCs) and their mode waters, (2) responses of the atmospheric circulation to oceanic variability in the WBCs and associated ocean-atmosphere coupled mode of variability, and (3) decadal variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and associated meridional transport of the heat and fresh water.