Phyllis Jean Stabeno is a physical

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

known for her research on the movement of water in polar regions. She has led award-winning research projects in the Arctic and was noted for a distinguished scientific career by the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

Education and career

Stabeno received her Ph.D. in 1982 from

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

. As of 2021, she works at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.

Research

Stabeno is known for her research on the water masses of the Arctic, long-term changes in the movement of water in the region, and the implications of these changes in the face of global climate change. Her early research examined currents off California and Oregon. She used current data from moorings and buoys that were tracked by satellites to characterize the movement of water in the vicinity of

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (, ) is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the Un ...

, Alaska. She subsequently expanded to using satellite-tracked buoys to examine water movement in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

, and conducted studies on the changes in the water movement in the region, especially in response to climate change. She has used moorings deployed on the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

to track the Alaska Coastal Current and followed the movement of eggs and larvae from walleye pollock. Her work includes investigations into the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska ( Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the ...

, the region near select

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

, and the North Pacific Ocean. In the Bering Sea, her research has revealed warming of waters on the Bering Sea shelf, the physical oceanography of the Bering Sea, and an integration of data from the Bering Sea that spans multiple decades.

Selected publications

* * * *

Awards and honors

Stabeno was the lead investigator for the Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) and Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Plan (BSIERP) programs which won the

Department of Commerce Gold Medal Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in 2015. In 2019 she received a Distinguished Career Award in Scientific Achievement from NOAA.

References

External links

* * May 16, 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stabeno, Phyllis Oregon State University alumni National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration personnel Women oceanographers American physicists Women physicists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people