Oscar Schofield

Oscar Schofield is a Distinguished Professor who has been innovating the use innovating new technologies, exploring the ocean, developing integrated ocean observing/modeling networks and educating the next generation of oceanographers. His efforts have focused on developing new robotic and sensor technologies that allow a continuous autonomous presence in the ocean. The new sensor and robotic technologies provide unprecedented volumes of streaming data. The volume and complexity of data is a major challenge for having these meet the needs of the multiple stakeholders needing the data to be transformed into actionable information. The data is applied to a wide range of needs spanning from health & human safety at sea, national security, sustainable management of marine living resources, offshore energy production, hurricane/typhoon forecasting, and climate impacts on ocean food-webs. Recent programs include leading an international program in understanding how ocean physics regulates the ecology of the Southern ocean. Using novel technologies, he has documented the role of climate change in altering plankton communities and the effects for the rest of the food web.