Research Interests     

Transport and mixing in the open ocean and coastal waters is a complicated process, one which at time seems inherently unpredictable. Chaos, or dynamical systems theory, has been called by many the new science, offering a way of seeing order in processes that were formerly thought random and unpredictable. It follows then that dynamical systems theory may offer a relatively new way to understand transport and mixing. Thus, my current research involves the development and application of dynamical system theory to data obtained from both computer simulations and observational data. In the first case, I have examined the transport processes in quasigeostrophic double-gyre, which is a model of the ocean. In the second, I have studied the transport processes derived from high-frequency radar data in the coastal zone, e.g. Monterey Bay. The combined use of dynamical systems theory and high-frequency radar will allow us to develop a much better understanding of pollution transport in coastal areas, perhaps leading to improved design in our discharge systems. You can read more about my dynamical systems work and applications here. Also, slides from a recent seminar that I gave in Washington D.C. are available here. Presently, we are expanding upon our dynamical systems approach by developing a framework which treats transport and mixing as both deterministic chaos and simultaneously as a stochastic process. This will optimize the amount of information that can be gained from a given simulated or observational data set. The ability to predict much more accurately the course followed by contaminants, and thus the potential affect they have on our environment, is being developed at an important time when environmental awareness is increasing and many states are passing laws regarding point-source pollution.

Education      

Employment   

Skills and Expertise

Publications       

1. C. Coulliette and S. Wiggins. "Intergyre Transport in a Wind-Driven, Quasigeostrophic Double Gyre: An Application of Lobe Dynamics.", Vol 7, No 1/2, pp. 59-86, 2000. Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics. (camera-ready copy available: PDF or PS)
   
   
2. Coulliette, C., Lipphardt, B.L., Wiggins, S., Kirwan, A.D., Hatfield, J.W., and Paduan, J.D., "Chaotic Stirring Derived from Radar: The New Paradigm for Coastal Zones." to be submitted to Science.
   
   
3. Coulliette, C., Ju, N., Wiggins, S. and Reynolds, A.M. "The role of coherent Lagrangian structures in turbulent transport and mixing: An approach based on dynamical systems and a sub-grid scale Lagrangian stochastic model", to be submitted to Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
     
4. Lekien, F., Hatfield, J. W., Coulliette, C., Ide, K. and Wiggins, S. "MANGEN: Computation of hyperbolic trajectories, invariant manifolds and lobes of dynamical systems defined as 2D+1 data sets", probably will submit to Journal of Computational Physics.
     
5. C. Coulliette and C. Pozrikidis. "Motion of an array of drops through a cylindrical tube. " Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1998, Vol. 358, pp. 1-28.
     
6. C. Coulliette and C. Pozrikidis. "Flow due to a periodic array of point forces, and the motion of small particles within a cylindrical tube of arbitrary cross section." Phsyics of Fluids, August 1996, Vol. 8, No. 8.
     
7. C. Coulliette and A. Plotkin. "Aerofoil Ground Effect Revisited." Aeronautical Journal, February 1996.
     
8. C. Coulliette and A. Plotkin. "Steady Aerofoil Ground Effect Revisited." 13th Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 95-1832.
     
9. T.S. Llanos, L.A. Lucchetto, D. Stafford, C. Coulliette. "Environmental Conditions for Certification Testing of Helicopter Advanced Main Rotor Components." 48th Annual Forum of the American Helicopter Society.
     
10. R. Venedum, M.P. Eastman, B.L. Wheeler, C. McLellan, C. Coulliette, N.L. Eastman. "Effect of wator vapor on the A.C. Impedance of thin films of Hectorite." Journal of the Electrochemical Society, June 1991, Vol. 138, No. 6.
      

click here for select abstracts.

Seminars       

1. Control & Dynamical Systems Seminar Series
   California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA: May 1998
   "A Dynamical Systems Approach to Lagrangian Transport in a Double-Gyre,".
   
   
2. Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
   University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN: May 1998
   "A Dynamical Systems Approach to Lagrangian Transport in a Wind-Driven Double-Gyre"
   
   
3. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
   Woods Hole, MA: August 1998
   "A Dynamical Systems Approach to Lagrangian Transport in a Wind-Driven Double-Gyre"
   (Stephen Wiggins gave most of this seminar. I did a brief section at the end on the effects of turbulent diffusion using the Langevin equation.)
   
   
4. Fluid Mechanics Seminar Series
   California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA: January 1999
   "Chaotic eyeglasses: Lagrangian transport using dynamical systems theory."
   
   
5. Environmental Engineering Science Seminar Series
   California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA: March 1999
   "Transport processes in Monterey Bay: A Dynamical systems approach"
   
   
6. Scripps Institute of Oceanography
   San Diego, CA: March 1999
   "Transport processes in Monterey Bay: A Dynamical systems approach"
   
   
7. Office of Naval Research
   Washington, DC: April 1999
   "Dynamical Systems Theory and Lagrangian Transport: New Tools for the Analysis of Flows Arising from Simulation and Remote Sensing."
   (Stephen Wiggins gave most of this talk. I did a brief talk after his on the software implementation of the dynamical systems advances. We are working on preparing a web-ready version of this talk.)
   
   
8. Ocean Seminar Series
   NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: July 1999
   "A Dynamical Systems Approach to Transport and Mixing in Geophysical Flows"
   (The abstract is posted on the JPL Oceans web site.)
   
   
9. California Institute of Technology
   Principal Lecturer: August 9-20, 1999
   "A Summer School on Recent Developments in Dynamical Systems Theory"
   (emphasis on geophysical and environmental flows)
   
   
10. Office of Naval Research Predictability Workshop
    Washington, DC: October 1999 "Dynamical Systems Theory and Lagrangian Transport: New Tools for the Analysis of Coastal Flow Fields Derived from Remote Sensing"
    (Slides are available here. They are best viewed with a Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher)
    
    
11. 6th Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Modeling
    New Orleans, LA: October 1999
    "Dynamical Systems Theory and Lagrangian Transport: New Tools for the Analysis of Coastal Flow Fields Derived from Remote Sensing."
    
    
12. European Geophysical Society General Assembly
    Nice, France: April 2000
    "The role of coherent Lagrangian structures in turbulent transport and mixing: An approach based on Lobe dynamics and Lagrangian stochastic models."
    
    
13. European Geophysical Society General Assembly
    Nice, France: April 2000
    "A study of transport processes in Monterey Bay via a dynamical systems analysis of high-frequency radar data."
    
    
14. European Geophysical Society General Assembly
    Nice, France: April 2002
    "Predicting the ttransport and mixing of contaminants in Monterey Bay with Lyapunov Exponents of HF radar data"

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Personal Interests