Stephanie Waterman

Research

Mixing processes in the oceans play a fundamental role in setting the global distribution of heat, energy, chemicals and marine organisms, and are directly linked to climate dynamics. Yet, there exists fundamental uncertainty in the rates and mechanisms of ocean mixing across a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Our research employs both traditional and novel theoretical and observational tools to quantify ocean turbulence and mixing rates, and gain insight into the mechanistic processes driving them at both large and small scales.

Current Interests:

Ocean turbulence & ocean mixing from observational & theoretical perspectives
Arctic oceanography, in particular the rates, mechanisms and impacts of mixing in this unique mixing environment
Shelf-basin exchange, in particular mechanisms that deliver deep ocean water to the coastal ocean and modify it en route, with a specific focus on the delivery of low-oxygen, acidic NE Pacific waters to the coastal ecosystems of British Columbia
Glacier-ocean interactions, in particular how melting glaciers impact coastal ocean physics, chemistry and biology
Autonomous ocean observing, in particular ocean gliders and the autonomous measurement of ocean turbulence
Geophysical fluid dynamics, in particular jets, eddies, internal waves, scale interactions & mixing + parameterizations for turbulence & mixing
Climate change education, in particular climate literacy for non-specialists

Research Areas

Climate Science
Oceanography

Biography

Education

Ph.D. Physical Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Joint Program, Woods Hole, USA. 2009.
M.Sc. Aeronautics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA. 2002.
B.Sc. Engineering Physics, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. 2001.

Professional Experience

Visiting Academic, Atmospheric, Oceanic & Planetary Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. 2022 - 2023.
Associate Professor, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. 2021 - present.
Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Ocean Turbulence, 2018 - 2023.
Assistant Professor, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. 2014 - 2021.
Research Fellow and Associate Investigator, Climate Change Research Centre and ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. 2012 - 2013.
Research Fellow, School of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK. 2009 - 2012.
Research Associate, Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Imperial College, London, UK. 2009 - 2012.

Select Awards & Distinctions

Killam Faculty Research Fellowship, UBC, 2022-2023
Charles A. McDowell Award for Excellence in Research, UBC, 2022
Killam Teaching Prize, UBC, 2021
Discovery Accelerator Supplement, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, 2020
Canada Research Chair (Tier II), Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat, 2018
Early Career Ocean Scientist Award, Canadian National Committee for the international Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR), 2016
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Ocean Sciences, 2015
Ruth and Paul Fye Award for Excellence in Oceanographic Research, 2015
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, Australian Research Council, 2012

Students

Katerina Benevides

Aidan Parfett

Publications

2025

Eaves, R.*, D. P. Marshall, J. R. Maddison and S. Waterman (2025). An energy and enstrophy constrained parameterization of barotropic eddy potential vorticity fluxes. J. Phys. Oceanogr. In Press.
Ross, T., H. V. Dosser, J. M. Klymak, W. Evans, A. Hare, J. M. Jackson, and S. Waterman (2025). Ocean gliders for planning and monitoring remote Canadian Pacific marine protected areas. In Frontiers in Ocean Observing: Marine Protected Areas, Western Boundary Currents, and the Deep Sea. E.S. Kappel, V. Cullen, G. Coward, I.C.A. da Silveira, C. Edwards, P. Heimbach, T. Morris, H. Pillar, M. Roughan, and J. Wilkin, eds, Oceanography 38. DOI: doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2025e104.

2024

Roberts, M. E., M.P. Bhatia, E. Rowland, P. L. White*, S. Waterman, M. A. Cavaco, P. Williams, J. N. Young, J. S. Spence, J. E. Tremblay, J.-C. Montero-Serrano, E. M. Bertrand (2024). Rubisco in high Arctic tidewater glacier-marine systems: A new window into phytoplankton dynamics. Limnology and Oceanography, 69, 4, 802-817.

2023

Klymak, J. M., S. E. Allen and S. Waterman (2023). Separation of an Upwelling Current Bounding the Juan de Fuca Eddy. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 128, 8, e2023JC019688.

2022

Carpenter, J. R., S. Waterman and B. Scheifele* (2022). Enhanced mixing of heat in the Arctic Ocean halocline in weakly turbulent conditions. Geophys. Res. Lett., 49, e2022GL100450.
Howatt. T.*, T. Ross and S. Waterman (2022). Canyon downwelling and water mass influences on winter zooplankton distributions in the coastal Northeast Pacific. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 127, e2022JC018540.
Izett, R. W., L. Castro de la Guardia, M. Chanona*, P. G. Myers, S. Waterman and P. D. Tortell (2022). Impact of vertical mixing on summertime net community production in Canadian Arctic and Subarctic waters: Insights from in situ measurements and numerical simulations. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 127, e2021JC018215.
Barthel, A.*, A. McC. Hogg, S. Waterman and S. Keating (2022). Baroclinic control of Southern Ocean eddy upwelling near topography. Geophys. Res. Lett., 49, e2021GL097491.

2021

Dosser, H.*, S. Waterman, J. Jackson, B. Hunt, W. Evans and C. Hannah (2021). Stark physical and biogeochemical differences and implications for ecosystem stressors in the Northeast Pacific coastal ocean. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 126, 32020JC017033.
Williams, P. L.*, D. O. Burgess, S. Waterman, M. Roberts, E. Bertrand and M. P. Bhatia (2021). Nutrient and carbon export from a tidewater glacier to the coastal ocean in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosciences, 126, e2021JG006289.
Bhatia, M., S. Waterman, D. Burgess, P. Williams, R. Bundy, T. Mellett, M. Roberts and E. Bertrand (2021). Glaciers and nutrients in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago marine system. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 35, e2021GB006976.
Howatt, T.*, S. Waterman and T. Ross (2021). On using the finescale parameterization and Thorpe scales to estimate turbulence from glider data. J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol., 38(6), 1187-1204.
Dosser, H.*, M. Chanona*, S. Waterman, N. Shibley and M.-L. Timmermans (2021). Changes in internal wave-driven mixing across the Arctic Ocean: Finescale estimates from an 18-Year pan-Arctic record. Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2020GL091747.
Waterman, S., A. Meyer, K. L. Polzin, A. C. Naveira Garabato and K. L. Sheen (2021). Antarctic Circumpolar Current impacts on internal wave life cycles. Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2020GL089471.
Scheifele, B.*, S. Waterman and J. Carpenter (2021). Turbulence and mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 51, 169-186.

2020

Chanona, M.* and S. Waterman (2020). Temporal variability of internal wave-driven mixing in two distinct regions of the Arctic Ocean. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans. 125, e2020JC016181.
Trushar, P. et al. (2020). Canadian Science Meets Parliament: Building relationships between scientists and policymakers. Science and Public Policy, 48(4), 1-4.

2019

Renfrew, I. et al. (2019). The Iceland Greenland Seas Project. Bull. Am. Meteor. Soc., 100, 1795-1817.
Roemmich, D. et al. (2019). On the future of Argo: A global, full-depth, multi-disciplinary array. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6:439.
Testor, P. et al. (2019). OceanGliders: A component of the integrated GOOS. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6:422.
Barth, J. et al. (2019). Better regional ocean observing through cross-national cooperation: A case study from the Northeast Pacific. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6:93.

2018

Chanona, M.*, S. Waterman and Y. Gratton (2018). Variability of internal wave-driven mixing and stratification in Canadian Arctic shelf and shelf-slope waters. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 123, 9178-9195.
Scheifele, B.*, S. Waterman, L. Merckelbach and J. Carpenter (2018). Measuring the Dissipation Rate of Turbulent Kinetic Energy in Strongly Stratified, Low Energy Environments: A Case Study from the Arctic Ocean. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 123, 1-22.

2017

Chen, R. and S. Waterman (2017). Mixing non-locality and mixing anisotropy in an idealized western boundary current jet. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 47, 3015-3036.
Barthel, A.*, A. McC. Hogg, S. Waterman and S. Keating (2017). Jet-topography interactions affect energy pathways to deep Southern Ocean. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 47, 1799-1816.
Turney, C. M. et al. (2015). Tropical forcing of increased Southern Ocean climate variability. Climate of the Past, 13, 231-248.

2015

Trossman, D. S., S. Waterman, K. L. Polzin, B. K. Arbic, S. T. Garner, A. C. Naveira-Garabato and K. L. Sheen (2015). Internal lee wave closures: Parameter sensitivity and comparison to observations. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 120, 7997-8019.
van Sebille, E., S. Waterman, A. Barthel*, R. Lumpkin, S. R. Keating, C. Fogwill and C. Turney (2015). Pairwise surface drifter separation in the western Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 120, 6769-6781.
Stewart, K. D.*, P. Spence, S. Waterman, J. Le Sommer, J.-M. Molines, J. M. Lilly and M. H. England (2015). Anisotropy of eddy variability in the global ocean. Ocean Modelling, 95, 53-65.
Sheen, K. L., J. A. Brearley, A. C. Naveira Garabato, D. A. Smeed, L. St. Laurent, M. P. Meredith, A. M. Thurnherr and S. Waterman (2015). Modiﬁcation of turbulent dissipation rates by a deep Southern Ocean eddy. Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 3450-3457.
Forryan, A. A. C. Naveira Garabato, K. L. Polzin and S. Waterman (2015). Rapid injection of near-inertial shear into the stratified upper ocean at an Antarctic Circumpolar Current front. Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 3431-3441.
Waterman, S. and J. M. Lilly (2015). Geometric decomposition of eddy feedbacks in barotropic systems. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 45 (4), 1009–1024.
Howard, E.*, A. McC. Hogg, S. Waterman and D. P. Marshall (2015). The injection of zonal momentum by buoyancy forcing in a Southern Ocean model. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 45, 259-271.

2014

Sheen, K. L., A. C. Naveira Garabato, J. A. Brearley, M. P. Meredith, K. L. Polzin, D. A. Smeed, A. Forryan, B. A. King, J. B. Sallee, L. St. Laurent, J. R. Ledwell, A. M. Thurnherr, J. M. Toole, S. Waterman and A. J. Watson (2014). Eddy-induced variability in Southern Ocean abyssal mixing on climatic time scales. Nature Geosciences, 7, 577-582.
Waterhouse, A. F., J. A. MacKinnon, J. D. Nash, M. H. Alford, E. Kunze, H. L. Simmons, K. L. Polzin, L. C. St. Laurent, O. Sun, R. Pinkel, L. D. Talley, C. B. Whalen, T. N. Huussen, G. S. Carter, I. Fer, S. Waterman, A. C. Naveira Garabato, T. Sanford, C. Lee (2014). Global patterns of diapycnal mixing from measurements of the turbulent dissipation rate. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 44, 1854-1871.
Waterman, S., K. L. Polzin, A. C. Naveira Garabato, K. L. Sheen and A. Forryan (2014). Suppression of internal wave breaking in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current near topography. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 44(5), 1466-1492.
Polzin, K. L., A. C. Naveira Garabato, T. H. Huussen, B. M. Sloyan, and S. Waterman (2014). Finescale parameterizations of turbulent dissipation. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 119(2), 1383-1419.
Brearley, J. A., K. L. Sheen, A. C. Naveira Garabato, D. A. Smeed, K. L. Speer, A. M. Thurnherr, M. P. Meredith and S. Waterman (2014). Deep boundary current disintegration in Drake Passage. Geophys. Res. Lett., 41(1), 121-127.

2013

Brearley, J. A., K. L. Sheen, A. C. Naveira Garabato, D. A. Smeed, and S. Waterman (2013). Eddy-induced modulation of turbulent dissipation over rough topography in the Southern Ocean. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 43(11), 2288-2308.
Waterman, S. and B. J. Hoskins (2013). Eddy shape, orientation, propagation and mean flow feedback in western boundary current jets. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 43(8), 259-282.
Sheen, K. L., J. A. Brearley, A. C. Naveira Garabato, S. Waterman, D. A. Smeed, J. R. Ledwell, M. P. Meredith, L. St. Laurent, A. M. Thurnherr, J. M. Toole, and A. J. Watson (2013). Rates and mechanisms of turbulent dissipation and mixing in the Southern Ocean: Results from the Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES). J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 118(6), 2774-2792.
Waterman, S., A. C. Naveira Garabato and K. L. Polzin (2013). Internal waves and turbulence in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 43(2), 259-282.

2012

Waterman, S. and S. R. Jayne (2012). Eddy-driven recirculations from a localized, transient forcing. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 42(3), 430-447.

2011

Waterman, S., N. G. Hogg and S. R. Jayne (2011). Eddy-mean flow interaction in the Kuroshio Extension region. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 41(6), 1182-1208.
Waterman, S. and S. R. Jayne (2011). Eddy-mean flow interactions in the along-stream development of a western boundary current jet: An idealized model study. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 41(4), 682-707.

2009

Jayne, S., N. Hogg, S. Waterman, L. Rainville, K. Donohue, D. Watts, K. Tracey, J. McClean, M. Maltrud, B. Qiu, S. Chen, and P. Hacker (2009). The Kuroshio Extension and its recirculation gyres. Deep Sea Research I, 56(12), 2088-2099.

2005

Joyce, T. M., J. Dunworth-Baker, R. S. Pickart, D. Torres and S. Waterman (2005). On the Deep Western Boundary Current south of Cape Cod. Deep Sea Research II, 52(3-4), 615-625.