Expertise
Dr. Shay's interests include: experimental and theoretical investigations of the ocean response and coupled air-sea interactions during strong atmospheric forcing events (tropical and extratropical cyclones, atmospheric jets, fronts), coastal oceanographic process studies, radar oceanography using HF radar and satellite altimetry, aircraft-based measurement systems.
Shay’s research focuses on mesoscale air-sea interactions and coastal ocean processes for both weak and strong winds such as tropical cyclones (e.g., hurricanes). The approach is to use remote sensing techniques from both satellite (radar altimetry) and high frequency radar techniques to understand the air-sea interface in combination with in-situ measurements such as profiling floats and expendable profilers both of which can be deployed from research aircraft or ships. These experimental data are cast within 3-dimensional ocean and coupled models working with colleagues from various institutions to examine these complex interactions and assess the impact of surface conditions on the subsurface ocean physics in the mixed layer and thermocline.