Lisa Beal is a Professor of Oceanography in the Ocean Sciences department at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. She is an expert on the Agulhas System of currents off South Africa and has brought recognition to the key role this System plays in a warming climate through her publications and international leadership.
Beal teaches courses on Physical Oceanography and on Climate Change. She advises graduate students and postdoctoral scientists in both the Ocean Sciences and the Meteorology and Physical Oceanography programs, conducting research using observing and modelling tools.
In addition to her research, Beal is involved in community work to increase the engagement, recruitment, and retention of women and minorities in oceanography. She also works to advance resources and capacity for ocean sciences in southern Africa, where she teaches periodically in the Honors program at the University of Cape Town and has formed local partnerships to develop sustained observations of the Agulhas System.
MPO 503: Intro to Physical Oceanography
I study transport processes in the oceans and the ocean's role in climate with a combination of numerical models, laboratory experiments, and field observations. My work is multidisciplinary and always part of a larger team effort. I help design experiments, carry them out, and analyse the data.
During my PhD, I was involved in developing and running computational models to simulate the drift of oil spills at sea.
Later in my post-doc years, I started going at sea to deploy instruments in coordinated campaigns and I fell in love with field work.
I measure ocean dynamics with drifting instruments (surface drifters, ARGO floats), towed instruments, unmanned autonomous platforms, and moorings. I also have experience working in different wave tank facilities such as SUSTAIN and OHMSETT, where I helped design and test a variety of instruments and vehicles.
I am a first year PhD student in the Beal Lab studying Ocean Dynamics. I will be assisting with the QUICCHE project while hoping to gain experience in the field of oceanography to implement in my research on Gulf Stream Variability and sea level rise on the FOCUS and C-Streams projects.
I am a PhD student researching the interocean fluxes between the Indian ocean and the Atlantic Ocean in the Cape Basin region off the coast of South Africa. Using these heat and salt fluxes, we plan to estimate Agulhas leakage and its variability over time and space. Outside of my research, I love going to the beach, kayaking in the bay, and reading a good book (or two).
Kathy was a postdoc working on the Agulhas System Climate Array (ASCA) project.
Now a Research Associate Professor at the Rosenstiel School
Now an Atmospheric Data Scientist at ClimaCell
Now a postdoc at LOCEAN in Paris, France.
Now Adjunct faculty at Seminole State College of Florida
Now physical oceanographer at Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, IPSL, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France.
Now a research scientist at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany
Now at LOCEAN in Paris, France
Now an Associate Professor in oceanography and climate change at Utrecht University in the Netherlands