Congratulations!Chavely Albert Fernández successfully defended her doctoral thesis

18 February 2025

Photo: Chathurika Wickramage

We are proud to announce the successful disputation of our SICSS member Chavely Albert Fernández.

Her dissertation “Sensitivity of ocean heat uptake to changing atmospheric forcing in the context of climate variability” was supervised by Prof. Dr. Detlef Stammer and Dr. Armin Köhl (both, University of Hamburg).

Chavely used the adjoint model of MITgcm to study how atmospheric forcing patterns, such as wind velocity and air temperature, influence heat transfer into the deep ocean. This approach helped her provide a comprehensive view of the atmospheric processes driving deep ocean heat uptake during the global warming hiatus—a period from 1998 to 2012 when the increase in global surface temperatures slowed despite rising greenhouse gas levels. She also investigated the role of modes of climate variability in shaping these processes.

Chavely was a member of the Institute of Oceanography at the University of Hamburg.

Her future plans?
She hopes to work in a role where she can contribute to studies on climate and the ocean. She is open to opportunities that allow her to apply her expertise in scientific research, data analysis, modelling or related fields.