Dylan Schlichting
Graduate Student
Coastal Oceanography, Submesoscale Processes, Estuarine physics
Research
I am a third year Ph.D. student that uses numerical simulations to study small-scale mixing processes in an ocean model of the Texas-Louisiana (TXLA) continental shelf in the northern Gulf of Mexico. My research focuses on understanding numerically-induced mixing in the TXLA model, which is a type of numerical error generated by the discretization of seawater transport (i.e, advection). This work is important because numerical mixing is often as large as the physical mixing resolved by the model in simulations of estuarine and coastal flows due to energetic fronts, which can cause the model to drift away from reality if left unchecked. I also have an undergraduate research background in coastal engineering and am interested in estuarine physics as well.
Selected Publications
- Schlichting, D., Qu, L., Hetland, R., and Kobashi, D. Using salinity variance budgets to quantify numerical mixing in a coastal ocean model. Manuscript submitted to Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems.
- Qu, L., Hetland, R., and Schlichting, D. Mixing pathways in simple box models. Journal of Physical Oceanography. https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-22-0074.1.
- Spicer, P., Schlichting, D., Huguenard, K., Roche, A., and Rickard, L., 2021. Sensing Storm Surge: A framework for establishing a citizen scientist monitored water level network. Ocean and Coastal Management, 211, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2021.105802.
Presentations and Conferences
- Schlichting, D., Qu, L., Hetland, R., and Kobashi, D. (2022). Quantification of physical and numerical mixing using tracer variance dissipation in a coastal ocean model. Gordon Research Seminar/Conference on Ocean Mixing. South Hadley, MA. June 4-10. Poster.
- Hetland, R., Qu, L., and Schlichting, D. (2022). Tracer variance mixing in simple box models. Ocean Sciences Meeting. February 24 - March 4. Talk.
- Schlichting, D., Qu, L., Hetland, R., and Kobashi, D. (2022). Using salinity variance budgets to quantify numerical mixing in a coastal ocean model. Ocean Sciences Meeting. February 24 - March 4. Talk.
- Schlichting, D., Hetland, R., Qu, L., and Kobashi, D. (2021). Using tracer variance budgets to quantify numerical mixing offline in a coastal ocean model. Warnemünde Turbulence Days Meeting. December 6-9. Talk.
- Schlichting, D., Lieberthal, B., and Huguenard, K. (2019). An assessment into vegetation farms as a solution to coastal erosion in southern Maine. Northeast Aquaculture Conference, Boston MA. January 9-11. Poster.
- Schlichting, D. and Hetland, R. (2018). Using salinity variance and total exchange flow to analyze salinity structure in an unsteady estuary. Physics of Estuaries and Coastal Seas Conference, Galveston, TX. October 14-18. Poster.
- Schlichting, D. and Hetland, R. (2018). Mechanisms controlling salinity structure in a broad, shallow, unsteady estuary. Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture Network Undergraduate Research Symposium. Walpole ME. August 7. Poster.
- Schlichting, D. and Hetland, R. (2018). Salinity structure in Copano Bay. Texas A&M University. Observing the Ocean REU Student Symposium. College Station, TX. August 2. Talk.
- Schlichting, D., Lieberthal, B., and Huguenard, K. (2017). Vegetation farms as a solution to coastal erosion for Saco, Maine. Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture Network Undergraduate Research Symposium. Walpole ME. August 16. Poster.
Education
Ph.D. Oceanography, Texas A&M University, 2020-Present.
B.S. Civil Engineering : 2016-2019. University of Maine.
Minor: Mathematics
Awards
- Louis & Elizabeth Scherck Scholarship (2020-Present)
- NSF S-STEM Scholar (Jan 2020 - Aug 2021)
- OCNG Mini-grant Recipient (X3, 2020-2021)
- NSF Observing the Ocean REU: Texas A&M University (2018)
