Nicholas Pizzo, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Oceanography
University of Rhode Island
Friday, April 3, 2026, 3:10pm
Chase 105
Abstract
Observing the ocean’s kilometer-scale (i.e., submesoscale) surface currents has been a long-standing challenge, with direct application to improving weather and climate models, marine navigation and a better understanding of ocean ecosystems. In this talk we review lessons learned measuring these currents during the NASA S-MODE campaign from both in situ assets such as wave gliders and doppler-based remote sensing techniques. The campaign highlighted that these spatially heterogeneous rapidly evolving submesoscale currents are particularly difficult to measure. To overcome this, we introduce Geostationary Ocean Flow (GOFLOW), a deep learning framework that produces hourly, high-resolution velocity fields from sequences of thermal imagery from geostationary satellites. Our approach directly measures the flow without assuming geostrophic balance and inherently filters internal waves that contaminates state-of-the-art satellite altimetry (e.g. the recently launched SWOT satellite). Applying GOFLOW to the Gulf Stream, we provide the first satellite-based measurements of submesoscale current statistics, revealing characteristic asymmetries in vorticity and divergence previously documented only in high-resolution circulation models. This ability to routinely map the ocean’s energetic submesoscale currents provides a new data source for advancing Earth system forecasting.
Bio
Nicholas Pizzo, a physical oceanographer at the University of Rhode Island, is interested in better understanding the physics of the lower atmosphere and upper ocean. He uses theoretical, laboratory, numerical and field approaches to better understand these processes.
