OASIS - The Zappa Lab

OASIS is the Observatory for Air-Sea Interaction Studies; aka The Zappa Lab @LamontEarth @Columbia; Director Prof. Christopher Zappa @CJZappa

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Continuing our @CnrIsmar #WISE2026 journey in Venice: The people and places that made the conference unforgettable! From a social dinner at the Venice Yacht Club in San Giorgio, to a concert at Chiesa dei Miracoli, to meeting up with friends from @Scripps_Ocean and @universityofri in Piazza San Marco, it was a week filled with culture, science, and community.

And as always, a joy to see Prof. Nathan Laxague, PI of the Coupled Air-Sea Surface Layers Laboratory @UofNH and a former postdoctoral researcher in the Zappa Lab. Science is powered by people, and WISE 2026 was a wonderful reminder of that.

The research we presented at the WISE conference are supported by @USNavyResearch, @NSF, and @NASA

#WavesintheSeaEnvironment #Ocean #Oceanography #OceanWaves #WISE2026 #TheZappaLab

@LamontEarth
⁩@columbiaclimate
@Columbia
@ColumbiaScience

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

The Zappa Lab had a wonderful time at the 2026 Waves in the Sea Environment (WISE) conference in Venice, Italy, hosted by CNR-ISMAR @CnrIsmar this month. We shared our latest research, reconnected with colleagues, met new collaborators, and learned about exciting advances in ocean wave science.

Beyond the conference, we explored Venice’s history, enjoyed delicious local food, and even attended a concert at Chiesa dei Miracoli. A rewarding week of science, connection, and discovery. More highlights from WISE coming soon, stay tuned!

The research we presented at the WISE conference are supported by @USNavyResearch, @NSF, and @NASA

CNR-ISMAR: The Institute of Marine Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy

#WavesintheSeaEnvironment #Ocean #Oceanography #OceanWaves #WISE2026 #TheZappaLab

@LamontEarth
⁩@columbiaclimate
@Columbia
@ColumbiaScience

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

📣 Zappa Lab participates in NEW @UConn paper!

🌊 Learn how wave breaking shapes near-surface turbulence and air–sea exchange in Dr. Cifuentes-Lorenzen’s latest @theAGU paper: “Observations of the Subsurface Structure of TKE Dissipation Rates Near the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory.”

Using nearly 3 months of continuous observations from the western North Atlantic shelf, this study reveals a two-layer turbulence structure beneath breaking waves: a shallow active breaking layer with nearly constant dissipation and a deeper wave-affected layer extending 5–6 times the significant wave height. These findings provide new insight into upper-ocean mixing and improve understanding of atmosphere–ocean energy exchange.

Lead author Alejandro Cifuentes-Lorenzen is an Assistant Research Professor of Marine Sciences @UConn. He is a long time collaborator of the Zappa Lab. Prof. Zappa and DEES graduate student Lindsay Hogan are co-authors of this paper.

Read the paper➡️https://t.co/LwYKoJzEzp

This research is supported by @NSF, @NASA, and @USNavyResearch

@LamontEarth
⁩@columbiaclimate
@Columbia
@ColumbiaScience

#AirSeaObs #AirSeaInterface #OceanScience #Oceanography #turbulentkineticenergy #wavebreaking

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Lead author Shantanu Soumya (@shantanu_soumya) is a PhD student @UofNH, he is a member of the Coupled Air-Sea Surface Layers Laboratory.

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

📣 Zappa Lab participates in NEW @UofNH publication!

🌊 Learn about how velocity gradients and turbulence shape energy exchange at the air–sea interface in the @SpringerNature Experiments in Fluids paper: “Thermal marking measurements of horizontal velocity gradients, turbulent kinetic energy, and its dissipation rate at an undulating wind ruffled air-water interface.”

Using thermal marking velocimetry, this study captures surface velocity fields across a wavy interface to quantify strain, vorticity, turbulent kinetic energy, and its dissipation. The work also links surface convergence/divergence to vortex dynamics—advancing how we measure and understand air–sea energy fluxes.

Read the study➡️https://t.co/B8TfEJsHc1
This research is supported by @NSF and @USNavyResearch.

Lead author Shantanu Soumya is a PhD student @UofNH, he is a member of the Coupled Air-Sea Surface Layers Laboratory.

Prof. Nathan Laxague is an Assistant Professor @UofNH, he is the Principal Investigator of the Coupled Air-Sea Surface Layers Laboratory. Nathan was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist @LamontEarth in the Zappa Lab.

Dr. Ivan Savelyev is a Research Physicist @USNRL.

@LamontEarth
⁩@columbiaclimate
@Columbia
@ColumbiaScience
@USNavyResearch

#AirSeaObs #AirSeaInterface #OceanScience #FluidDynamics #TurbulentKineticEnergy

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Postdoctoral Research Scientist Carson Witte showcased his piece on September Arctic sea ice extent at the @LamontEarth 2025 Research as Art Exhibit last fall. He 3D-printed sea ice extent across decades, highlighting the loss of Arctic ice due to climate change. Research as Art is an annual event at Lamont, revived in 2024, it provides a platform to celebrate science through creativity at Lamont. Lab member Lindsay Hogan is one of the event organizers👩‍🎨and promo MC🎤

#ResearchAsArt #ScienceArt #SciComm #LamontRocks #OceanScience #Oceanography #ClimateResearch #Columbia #OASISTheZappaLab

@LamontEarth
@columbiaclimate
@Columbia

[LDEO @LamontEarth]

Both artists and scientists strive to see the world in new ways, and to communicate that vision. Lamont's Research as Art 2025—organized by Ally Peccia, Aviva Intveld, Caitlin Locke, Hanna Anderson, Lindsay Hogan, and Phoebe Salowey—celebrates these endeavors and showcases Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory research.

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

That’s a wrap for Zappa Lab at #AMS2026! Carson and Jerry shared exciting work on ocean model physics and upper-ocean processes. Grateful for the conversations, new ideas, and connections across weather, ocean, and climate science. See you next year and thank you @ametsoc for having us!

Our work presented at #AMS2026 was supported by @NSF, @SchmidtOcean, @NASA, and @USNavyResearch.

@LamontEarth
⁩@columbiaclimate
@Columbia
@ColumbiaScience

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Jerry will present on Near-surface Ocean Currents, Stress, and Roughness Length. Using integrated remote sensing to reconstruct ocean profiles in the uppermost centimeters, this study provides novel parameterizations and advances the understanding of dynamic air–sea coupling for future model development.

The presentation starts at 5:45 PM Jan 28 in 310B (George R. Brown Convention Center). More details ➡️https://t.co/9WF7Kzs1C9

This research is supported by @NSF, @NASA, and @USNavyResearch.

#AMS2026 #UpperOcean #Oceanography #Research #Science #AirSeaInteraction

@LamontEarth
@columbiaclimate
@Columbia
@ColumbiaScience
@WHOI

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Postdoctoral Research Scientist Carson Witte and DEES graduate student Jerry (Junzhe) Liu will be presenting at the 106th @ametsoc Conference next Wednesday!

Carson will present state-of-the-art Lagrangian observations of temperature and turbulence profiles in large-amplitude Diurnal Warm Layers (DWLs). This research compares observations to a hierarchy of upper ocean models, identifying specific failure points and proposing physically-motivated modifications to current model physics.

The presentation starts at 4:45 PM on Jan 28 in 310B (George R. Brown Convention Center). More details ➡️https://t.co/fP2Wwr5LzJ

This research is supported by @NSF and @SchmidtOcean.

#AMS2026 #AirSeaObs #DiurnalWarmLayers #airseaflux #seasurfacetempreture #climatemodel #oceanmodel #Oceanography #Research #Science

@LamontEarth
⁩@columbiaclimate
@Columbia
@ColumbiaScience

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Congratulations to @Columbia Department of Earth and Environmental Science grad student Junzhe (Jerry) Liu on successfully completing his Dissertation Proposal. The lab came together last week at Cafe China to celebrate this milestone and recognize the hard work behind it. Well done, Jerry—we’re excited to see what comes next!

#PhDinprogress #AcademicJourney #PHD #oceanography #OASIStheZappaLab #Columbia

@LamontEarth⁩
@columbiaclimate
@NSF

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

The instruments were deployed for nearly 6 months, producing a data set that spans a large parameter space of wind and wave conditions. This figure shows Time series of (a) wind speed, (b) significant wave height, and (c) wave age with recording times of the Imperx visible cameras highlighted in yellow, (d) Wind rose (following meteorological convention of direction from in degrees clockwise from North) for each Imperx visible camera acquisition.

Learn more at graduate student Lindsay Hogan’s @JGROceans paper: https://t.co/tBj31jFxP7

This research is supported by @NSF, @NASA, and @USNavyResearch.

#AirSeaObs #OceanScience #WaveBreaking #AirSeaFlux #OceanTurbulence

@LamontEarth
@columbiaclimate
@Columbia
@theAGU
@WHOI

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Introducing Zappa Lab's Air–Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT) work! From Oct 2019–Feb 2020, we deployed a suite of meteorological, optical, and oceanographic instruments on ASIT off the south coast of Martha’s Vineyard to observe air–sea coupling during the stormy North Atlantic winter.

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Instruments measured turbulence above, at, and below the air–sea interface: sonic anemometers captured wind profiles and fluctuations, LiDAR altimeters measured sea surface elevation, cameras captured wave breaking, and acoustic doppler current profilers profiled turbulent flow from just below the surface to 19 m depth.

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

🎄🎉🎇Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from the Zappa Lab (We had a full house!) and @LamontEarth Ocean and Climate Physics Division. 2025 was a fruitful year of research and community building. We look forward to another exciting year of ocean exploration and discovery🌊🚢 See you in 2026💫

#HappyHolidays #LDEO #OASIStheZappaLab #TheZappaLab #ColumbiaUniversity

@LamontEarth
@columbiaclimate
@Columbia

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Yesterday, Zappa Lab and Ocean & Climate Physics Division member Mackenzie Blanusa and @LamontEarth Marine Polar and Geophysics Educator & Outreach Coordinator Marisa Annunziato braved the cold to sample the Hudson River for the NEPTUNE nano- and microplastics project, a collaboration with @SouthernMiss researchers. Biweekly through March, we measure temp, salinity, velocity, pH, dissolved oxygen, UV, and wind speed, and ship the water samples to @SouthernMiss for analysis.

#AirSeaObs #Microplastics #Nanoplastics #MicroplasticResearch #Polarimetry #Collaboration #LDEO #OASIStheZappaLab #TheZappaLab #ColumbiaUniversity

@LamontEarth
@columbiaclimate
@Columbia

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Göksu Duvarcı from @UofNH’s Coupled Air-Sea Surface Layers Lab visited the Zappa Lab this September to advance collaborations on Polarimetric Slope Sensing, an optical technique for measuring small-scale sea-surface waves. Lindsay, Jerry, and Göksu ran experiments from Piermont Pier on the Hudson River, testing a new two-camera system for directly measuring the relationship between the degree of linear polarization and the angle of incidence of a ray reflected off the sea surface.

Learn more about the Coupled Air-Sea Surface Layers Lab’s research➡️https://t.co/0e0wKbSKC8

#AirSeaObs #OceanScience #RemoteSensing #AirSeaInteraction #Polarimetry #Collaboration #LDEO #UNH

@LamontEarth
@columbiaclimate
@Columbia
@USNavyResearch
@NSF
@NASA

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

Prof. Zappa returned to the 🇮🇹University of Naples Parthenope @Uniparthenope for a visit this October! A former @FulbrightPrgrm Distinguished Chair (2018), Prof. Zappa is now honored as Long-Term Visiting Professor in recognition of his enduring collaborations with Parthenope’s research teams, including the Situational Awareness for Environment group, directed by Professor Massimiliano Lega (photo 1: left), and the Oceanography and Meteorology group, directed by Professor Giorgio Budillon (photo 2: right).

The Acting Rector of @Uniparthenope, Prof. Franco Calza (photo 1: middle), gave Prof. Zappa a warm welcome during his visit. Prof. Zappa was also surprised to see an old friend, Prof. Emeritus Giancarlo Spezie (photo 2: left), who originally invited him to the university in 2008.

#Oceanography #Fulbright #FulbrightScholar #ResearchCollaboration #ColumbiaUniversity #InternationalPartnerships

@FulbrightIT
@LamontEarth⁩
@columbiaclimate
@Columbia

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

#tbt to 2018: Prof. Zappa celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the @FulbrightIT Commission in Italy as a @FulbrightPrgrm scholar at a reception at Villa Taverna @AmbasciataUSA, alongside #Fulbright host Prof. Max Lega from @Uniparthenope.

@LamontEarth⁩
@columbiaclimate
@Columbia

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

🌊💨 #TBT to August 2001! The @USNavyResearch CBLAST experiment off Martha’s Vineyard set out to understand how the ocean and atmosphere exchange heat, mass & momentum during calm, low-wind conditions. Using the ASIT tower, aircraft IR skin-temp imaging, drifters and ship surveys, the team captured flux and ocean-skin data—advancing understanding of coupled ocean–atmosphere processes when buoyancy, not wind, drives exchange.

Read more about the research:
High-resolution airborne infrared measurements of ocean skin temperature, Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. @IEEEXplore https://t.co/HyejIMWwGV

The Coupled Boundary Layers and Air-Sea Transfer Experiment in Low Winds (CBLAST-LOW), Bulletin of the @ametsoc
https://t.co/EZGuFVRtGl

Sea surface temperature signatures of oceanic internal waves in low winds, Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans @JGROceans
https://t.co/MjHQVkpoej

@LamontEarth⁩
@columbiaclimate
@Columbia
@WHOI

#Oceanography #AirSeaTransfer #AirSeaObs #OceanSkin #OceanSkinTempreture

[OASIS - The Zappa Lab @TheZappaLab]

🌊We’re always looking for motivated graduate students to join the Zappa Lab!

Our team studies the oceanic and atmospheric boundary layers through observational research at sea and the lab, advancing our understanding of air–sea interaction and upper ocean processes.

Apply through the Columbia Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DEES) and reach out to Prof. Zappa for more information.

#OceanScience #ClimateResearch #AirSeaInteraction #Columbia #OASISTheZappaLab #gradschool #phd #phdprogram

@LamontEarth
@columbiaclimate
@Columbia