|
Assistant Professor Department of Geological Sciences and Institute for Coastal
Science and Policy (ICSP) 391 Flanagan Building Greenville, NC 27858-4353 252-328-9406 office 252-328-4391 fax EMAIL: mulliganr (at) ecu.edu WEB: core.ecu.edu/geology/mulliganr
|
|||
|
|
|
|
Research
Interests |
I am a coastal oceanographer, with interests in
the physical forces that cause changes to coastal regions and the ways in which
coastal systems respond. Coastal
processes act over a range in time scales from seconds (like surface waves) to
hundreds of years (like sea level rise), but often it is timescales of days
(like hurricanes and storm events) over which major changes such as erosion
occurs that affect human populations.
Coastal processes can also act over a wide range of spatial scales from
sub-millimetre scale (like fluid turbulence) to thousands of kilometres (like
tsunamis) and it is important to understand the interaction of many different
processes to simulate and predict future changes to the coastal
environment.
I am particularly
interested in surface waves, ocean currents, transport of water and sediments
and contaminants, and changes in the geomorphology of the coastline and seabed.
I use field observations and numerical models to study coastal systems, and
develop further understanding of the processes that affect oceans, estuaries and
rivers. This work is particularly important for North Carolina, with hundreds
of kilometres of barrier islands and estuarine coastline that provides tourism,
recreation, navigation and marine habitat. North Carolina has low topography that
is exposed to severe hurricanes, making it very susceptible to coastal erosion
and flooding.
My current research sites
are in Canada, including Lunenburg Bay and the Bay of Fundy (Nova Scotia) on
the Atlantic Ocean and the Mackenzie River Delta (Northwest Territories) on the
Arctic Ocean. I am presently establishing a research program in coastal North
Carolina.
|
Teaching |
GEOL 1550: Introduction to Oceanography
|
Selected
Publications |
Mulligan, R.P., Hay,
A.E., and Bowen, A.J. (2008).
Wave-driven circulation in a coastal bay during the landfall of a
hurricane. J. Geophy.Res., 113,
C05026, doi:10.1029/2007JC004500.
Mulligan, R.P., Bowen, A. J., Hay, A.E., van der Westhuysen, A. J., and Battjes, J.A. (2008). Whitecapping and wave field evolution in a coastal bay. J. Geophy.Res., 113, C03008, doi:10.1029/2007JC004382.
|
Coastal
Observatories and Field Projects |
Lunenburg Bay Coastal Observatory, NS, 2003-2007
Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO), MA, 2007
Sediment Acoustics Experiment (SAX’04), FL, 2004
