Scientists from IMCS will join a team to study wind forcing of shelf circulation along the coast of California with NSF proposal award. Oscar Schofield from the Coastal Ocean Observation Lab (COOL) has won a National Science Foundation program to work with scientists at the University of California at Santa Barbara and California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo .

Specifically the team will study the underlying physics of poleward flows of coastal water, which rapidly develop on continental shelves.

These responses are associated with relaxations in the winds. Wind relaxations are common features of coastal upwelling systems worldwide, so observations of the poleward flows they produce in the California Current System will provide general insights. The three-year program will use ships, state-of-the-art moorings, high frequency radars, propeller driven robots and underwater gliders to measure the how the ocean is responds to changing winds. The million-dollar program will incorporate undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral researchers over the next few years in the field efforts located of the coast of California near Santa Barbara.