Joseph B. Zambon

My research interest stems from a childhood fascination with meteorology. Born and raised in Buffalo, NY, my original interest in the atmosphere was primarily in phenomena which are enhanced by large bodies of water (e.g. Lake Effect Snow). My atmospheric interests broadened through my undergraduate studies at SUNY Albany, culminating with a B.S. in Atmospheric Science and a minor in Mathematics and Statistics.

Upon acceptance to North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC), I was recruited by Dr. Ruoying He for a project in numerical air-ocean-wave coupling with a promise that "the ocean is really just a big lake". My research in this area has been primarily in Tropical Cyclones, however there have been several extensions into Nor'easters, nowcast/forecasts, coastal dynamics, and even Lake Effect Snow. This research has taken me around the world, either collecting data on NSF-funded research cruises, or presenting results to peers in scientific conferences. I completed my Ph.D. in December 2014 and completed my postdoctoral research in early 2017.

I thoroughly enjoy my research, the challenges it demands, and look forward to future collaborative efforts within the department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (MEAS) and beyond. My research would not be possible without support of the USGS, NASA, NOAA, NSF, my dissertation committee, fellow collaborators, peers, faculty, and of course my friends and family.

• Numerical Geophysical Modeling
• Tropical Cyclone Modeling and Forecasting
• Air-Sea Interactions
• Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave Numerical Modeling
• Coastal Ocean Circulation Dynamics
• Statistical Validation of Numerical Models

• Coupled Northwest Atlantic Prediction System (CNAPS; August 2013-Present)

  Developed an enhanced data portal for a daily Nowcast/Forecast developed using the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) Model. In addition to the COAWST daily nowcast/forecast product (described in Previous Research below), this data portal allows users to inspect model results in an immersive data portal. Users can examine an interactive map of 3-hourly fields including 3-dimensional ocean circulation features (currents, temperature, and salinity), surface weather (sea level pressure, temperature, wind, and precipitation), wave conditions (height and direction). In addition, users can look a validation plots (High-Frequency Radar, Buoys, Tidal Gauges), generate user-defined products (transects, vertical profiles, and drifter trajectories), compare and create ensembles from outside ocean model solutions. Save solutions via on a THREDDS server for users to download model fields based on specific time and location arrays.

• Hurricane Matthew (2016) Precipitation Processes in Coupled and Uncoupled model configurations

  Examining Hurricane Matthew (2016) as it impacted the Southeast U.S. through the lens of coupled vs uncoupled numerical models. Comparing model fields of precipitation to determine the impact of ocean moisture and heat flux on this devestating flooding event.

• Deep-Ocean Numerical Modeling

  Using our in-house ocean models to determine our ability to model near-bottom ocean currents. With development of an accurate deep-ocean model, an insight into the connectivity and transport of larvae in the Northwest Atlantic can be developed.

• Hurricane Irene (2011) Interaction with the Gulf Stream

  Investigation into Hurricane Irene's interaction with the Gulf Stream front in order to determine the importance of coupled modeling and/or representation of sea surface temperature. Utilizing sensitivity experiments to determine the importance of small-scale oceanic features on processes such as hurricane intensification and precipitative processes.

• Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave Nowcast/Forecast (August 2013-Present)

  A daily Nowcast/Forecast developed using the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) Model. The model couples 3 state-of-the-art research models in real time: the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), and Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN). This model is initialized, iterated, analyzed, and post-processed automatically every day from 2AM-9AM. For model iteration, we utilize 84 computational nodes at the NC State University High Performance Computing (HPC) center. The model spatial domain resolves the U.S. East Coast, Gulf of Mexico, and Intra-Americas Sea for a period of 72 hours. Several 3-D and 4-D fields are stored and served in-house on one of our home-built data storage and processing servers.

• SABGOM Uncoupled Nowcast/Forecast (2007-Present)

  Similar to the Coupled Nowcast/Forecast described above, however the domain region is constrained to the South Atlantic Bight and Gulf Of Mexico (SABGOM). This model is uncoupled, initially developed in 2007 as an ocean-only model, I introduced the atmosphere and wave components in early 2012.
  Publication: Xue, Z., J. B. Zambon, Z. Yao, Y. Liu, and R. He, in press. An Integrated ocean circulation, wave, atmosphere and marine ecosystem prediction system for the South Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Operational Oceanography, 1-12, doi:10.1080/1755876X.2015.1014667.

• Hurricane Sandy's (2012) Transition to Extratropical Storm

  My research into Superstorm Sandy occurs in the 36 hours prior to its devestating landfall in NY/NJ. During this period, interaction with synoptic-scale atmospheric features and oceanographic feedback were essential to the extratropical transition prior to landfall.
  Publication: Zambon, J. B., R. He, and J. C. Warner, 2014. Tropical to extratropical: Marine environmental changes associated with Superstorm Sandy prior to its landfall. Geophysical Research Letters, 2014GL061357. doi:10.1002/2014GL061357

• Coupled Investigation of Hurricane Ivan (2004)

  Attempting to understand the effects of a coupled model on tropical cyclone hindcast. Determining the influence ocean coupling has on an intense tropical cyclone as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico. Investigation of the heat budget and ocean/wave response to an extremely intense tropical cyclone.
  Publication: Zambon, J. B., R. He, and J. C. Warner, 2014: Investigation of hurricane Ivan using the coupled ocean–atmosphere–wave–sediment transport (COAWST) model. Ocean Dynamics, 64, 1535–1554, doi:10.1007/s10236-014-0777-7.

• Parameterization of Surface Roughness Beneath Hurricane Ida (2009)

  Hurricane Ida (2009) represented a difficult case to develop a coupled model hindcast solution, partially due to its late-season transition to a Nor'easter. We attempted a number of parameterizations of surface roughness before finding one that produced acceptable results of the atmosphere, ocean, and wave environments.
  Publication: Olabarrieta, M., Warner, J. C., Armstrong, B., Zambon, J. B., & He, R. (2012). Ocean–atmosphere dynamics during Hurricane Ida and Nor’Ida: An application of the coupled ocean–atmosphere–wave–sediment transport (COAWST) modeling system. Ocean Modelling, 43-44(C), 112–137. doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2011.12.008

• Development of the COAWST Model and Application to Hurricane Isabel (2003)

  Hurricane Isabel represented a discrete event that demonstrated drastic modification to the coastline of the NC Outer Banks. After completing a successful coupled hindcast, we investigated the erosive processes involved to determine why this storm was so damaging to the shoreline.
  Publication: Warner, J. C., Armstrong, B., He, R., & Zambon, J. B. (2010). Development of a coupled ocean–atmosphere–wave–sediment transport (COAWST) modeling system. Ocean Modelling, 35(3), 230–244.

• Idealized Coupled Tropical Cyclone Simulations (JOE_TC)

  Developing a idealized tropical cyclone (JOE_TC) to perform initial testing of a coupled numerical model framework.
  Publication: Zambon, J. B. (2009). An Examination of Tropical Cyclone Dynamics Utilizing the 3-Way Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Wave Sediment Transport (COAWST) Model. M.S. Thesis submitted to North Carolina State University, 140pp.

• oceanus

  Developed a system specific to storage of very large and consecutive datasets. Configured to allow user querying of specific temporal and spatial arrays to alleviate network congestion and latency.
  Specifications:

  • 30x 6TB Hard Drives in RAID6 (mirrored for redundancy)
  • Intel i7 3.4GHz
  • 64GB RAM
  • Tomcat Server
  • Battery backup
  • Internal Gigabit connection to other group servers

• omgsrv1 (updated)

  Developed a system specific to initializing daily model runs, post-processing model data, executing several hundred iterations of MATLAB plotting scripts, storing data for several weeks and then transferring data to archive. Brought online in April 2014 to alleviate I/O to aging array on original omgsrv1 (now omgarch1).
  Specifications:

  • 2x 3TB Hard Drives in RAID1 (mirrored for redundancy)
  • Intel i7 3.4GHz
  • 16GB RAM
  • In-house Wiki
  • Tomcat Server
  • Battery backup
  • Internal Gigabit connection to other group servers

• omgsrv2

  Homebuilt system to manage research data for group. Large HD array with RAID5 redundancy and hot-spare. Features latest software for analysis and plotting of results. Brought online in August 2012.
  Specifications:

  • 30TB RAID Storage: 11x 3TB Hard Drives in RAID5 (+1 hot spare)
  • 1TB System Storage + daily backup
  • Intel i5 3.2GHz
  • 16GB RAM
  • Battery backup
  • Internal Gigabit connection to other group servers

• omgarch1 (originally omgsrv1)

  System homebuilt to alleviate operational load and research strain on HPC storage. Brought online in April 2010. Currently being used for archival purposes only to reduce I/O load on aging RAID array.
  Specifications:

  • 18TB RAID Storage: 11x 2TB Hard Drives in RAID5 (+1 hot spare)
  • 1TB System Storage + daily backup
  • Intel Xeon 1.8GHz
  • 8GB RAM
  • Battery backup
  • Internal Gigabit connection to other group servers