OS People

William Holland

Research Interests

Broadly within the field of dynamical oceanography, particularly problems concerning large-scale ocean circulation. Studies have been made or are going on in the following areas:

1. The role of the ocean in climate change.

2. The role of eddies in the oceanic general circulation

3. The instability of the Gulf Stream

4. Tracer distributions and their relationship to the general ocean circulation

5. Wind and thermohaline driven ocean circulation

6. Coupled models of air--sea interaction

7. Satellite data assimilation into ocean circulation models

Background: Education and Employment

1956-1960: Student, University of California, Los Angeles. Major field: physics

1960: A.B. Degree in Physics (with honors), UCLA, Phi Beta Kappa

1960-1961: Graduate Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Meteorology. Ford Foundation Fellow studying oceanography. M.S. Degree, MIT. Advisor: Henry Stommel. Title of thesis: "Vertical Motion in the Atlantic Circulation Pattern."

1961-1966: Graduate Student, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. Ph.D. Degree, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. Thesis: "Wind-Driven Circulation in an Ocean with Bottom Topography."

1966-1967: National Science Foundation Fellow, Department of Applied Mathematics, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK. Carried out laboratory and numerical experiments on flow of a homogeneous fluid in rotating tanks of variable depth. Advisor: Dr. John Elder.

1967-1974: Research Oceanographer, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA. Princeton University Faculty. Duties involved teaching courses and guiding student research in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Program.

1974-1979: Research Oceanographer and Section Head, Oceanography Section, National Center for Atmospheric Research.

1979-1994: Senior Scientist and Section Head, Oceanography Section, NCAR.

1994-1996: Senior Scientist and Co-Director, Climate System Modeling project, NCAR.

1996-1998: Senior Scientist, NCAR.

1998-present: Senior Research Associate, NCAR.

Honors and Awards

Ford Foundation Fellowship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1960.

Sverdrup Fellowship, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1961-1964.

National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Cambridge University, 1966-1967.

Fellow, American Meteorological Society, 1991.

University Experience and Involvement

1. National Center for Atmospheric Research, August 1974-present. Has acted in an advisory capacity to university students doing research at NCAR and has served as the thesis advisor for a number Ph.D. candidates: Dr. D. Haidvogel, MIT, 1976; Dr. Mary Batteen, Oregon State University, 1983; Dr. James C. Evans, Florida State University, 1983; Dr. Antonietta Capotondi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993; Dr. John Schultz, Florida State University, 1994.

2. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, September 1971-January 1972. Visiting research oceanographer. Taught graduate course on "Numerical Models of Ocean Circulation."

3. Princeton University, September 1971-June 1974. Visiting Lecturer, Department of Geology and Geophysics. Taught one graduate oceanography course per year. Served on faculty committees, as a member of several thesis committees, and as the thesis advisor for one Ph.D. Candidate (Dr. L.B. Lin, Princeton University, 1974).

4. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, September-December 1977. Visiting Research Oceanographer. Presented series of lectures on various aspects of large-scale ocean circulation.

5. University of Cambridge, September-December 1983. Senior Visiting Fellow, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.

6. Sabbatical, CSIRO Marine Laboratories, Hobart, Tasmania, January-June, 1984.

7. Adjunct Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1986-present.

8. Collaborative leave, University of Hawaii, January-May, 1989.

9. Adjunct Researcher, University of Colorado, 1990-present. Served on the thesis committees for a number of University of Colorado graduate students: Greg Jacobs (Ph.D. 1991); Carol Anne Clayson (Ph.D. 1995); Todd Arbettor and Doug Engelhart (Ph.D. 1996).

10. Visiting Committee, Physical Oceanography Department, WHOI, March, 1992.

11. Collaborative leave, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, October 1993-February 1994.

12. Sabbatical, Center for Climate System Research, University of Tokyo, November 1995-May 1996.