Michael Haigh

About

Summary

I'm a physical scientist at the British Antarctic Survey studying ocean-driven melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. (A link to my BAS page here.) Other interests include the interaction between large and small scales in the oceans, and the transport of tracers by eddies and jets.

History

2021 - present: Physical Scientist, British Antarctic Survey.

2019 - 2021: Mathematics Research Associate, Imperial College London.

2015 - 2019: Mathematics PhD, Imperial College London. Supervisor: Prof Pavel Berloff

2011 - 2015: MMath Integrated Masters in Mathematics, University of Leeds.

Research

Oceanography of the Amundsen Sea

Warm ocean currents drive rapid basal melting of the ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica. We aim to understand how the flow in the Amundsen Sea will change in the future and what effects this will have on melting of the ice shelves. Right: surface and deep flow from a regional model of the Amundsen Sea.

Idealised shallow-water dynamics

I am also interested in the nature of Rossby waves in an idealised single-layer shallow-water model. Specifically, I aim to develop an understanding of nonlinear self-interactions of Rossby waves and how this depends on the large-scale background flow. Right: interpretation of the Rossby wave field via 'eddy shape' parameters. The left-hand panel quantifies the eddy zonal elongation, the right-hand panel quanties the eddy tilt.

Eddy-induced tracer diffusivities

Since it is usually not possible to simulate ocean models at grid resolutions fine enough to dynamically resolve mesoscale eddies, parameterisations of their effects are required. In partiuclar, the transport of passive tracers by eddies needs to be somehow represented in coarse-resolution ocean models. Right: deviation of tracer field from initial condition.

Publications

- M. Haigh & P.R. Holland, 2024: Decadal variability of ice-shelf melting in the Amundsen Sea driven by sea-ice freshwater fluxes GRL, 51.

- M. Haigh, P.R. Holland and A. Jenkins, 2023: The Influence of Bathymetry Over Heat Transport onto the Amundsen Sea Continental Shelf Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 128(5).

- M. Haigh and P. Berloff, 2022: On the stability of tracer simulations with opposite-signed diffusivities. J. Fluid Mech., 937, R3.

- M. Haigh and P. Berloff, 2021: On co-existing diffusive and anti-diffusive tracer transport by oceanic mesoscale eddies. Ocean Modelling, 168, 101909.

- M. Haigh, L. Sun, J.C. McWilliams, and P. Berloff, 2021: On eddy transport in the ocean. Part II: The advection tensor. Ocean Modelling, 165, 101845.

- M. Haigh, L. Sun, J.C. McWilliams, and P. Berloff, 2021: On eddy transport in the ocean. Part I: The diffusion tensor. Ocean Modelling, 164, 101831.

- L. Sun, M. Haigh, I. Shevchenko, P. Berloff, and I. Kamenkovich, 2021: On non-uniqueness of the mesoscale eddy diffusivity. J. Fluid Mech., 920, A32

- Kamenkovich, I., P. Berloff, M. Haigh, L. Sun, and Y. Lu, 2021: Complexity of mesoscale eddy diffusivity in the ocean. Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2020GL091719.

- M. Haigh, L. Sun, I. Shevchenko, and P. Berloff, 2020: Tracer-based estimates of eddy-induced diffusivities. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 160, 103264.

- M.C. Haigh and P.S. Berloff, 2020: Rossby waves and zonal momentum redistribution induced by localised forcing in the rotating shallow-water model. J. Fluid Mech., 885, A43.

- M.C. Haigh and P.S. Berloff, 2018: Potential vorticity redistribution by localised transient forcing in the shallow-water model. J. Fluid Mech., 852, 199-225.