Education

Ph.D. MIT

Research interests

The focus of my research program is the dynamics and kinematics of coastal circulation features and processes, and most recently, the coupling between biological and physical oceanographic processes in coastal regions. The scientific approach combines intensive field studies with statistical analysis and the techniques theoretical fluid dynamics.  The studies are carried out in environments ranging from estuaries and sea straits, to continental shelves, gulfs, and marginal seas. The typical field program includes a suite time-series measurements of temperature, conductivity (salinity) and velocity made from automated buoy systems that log data and telemeter it via satellite back to the laboratory.  Additional data are provided from shipboard surveys, satellite-tracked drifters, and satellite-derived images of sea-surface temperature.  Many of the components that make up the Ocean Data Acquisition Systems (ODAS) buoys are designed, fabricated, and integrated by engineers, research assistants, students and technicians within the physical oceanography research group. 

Publications

• 1997 Journal of Plankton Research
  Townsend, D.W., and N.R. Pettigrew, 1997. Nitrogen Limitation of Secondary Production on Georges Bank. Journal of Plankton Research, 19, 221-235.
• Deep-Sea Research II
  Townsend, D.W., and N.R. Pettigrew, 1996. The role of frontal currents in larval fish transport on Georges Bank. Deep-Sea Research II, 43, 1773-1792.
• Deep-Sea Research
  Townsend, D.W., L. M. Cammen, P.M. Holligan, D. E. Campbell, and N.R. Pettigrew, 1994. Implications of variability in the timing of spring phytoplankton blooms. Deep-Sea Research, 41, 747-765.
• 1993 Journal of Geophysical Research
  Hyde, R. A., and N.R. Pettigrew, 1993. A modification of the Response Method of tidal analysis. Journal of Geophysical Research , 98, C12, 22753-22757.
• Kluwer Academic Publishers
  Pettigrew, N.R. and R.A. Hyde, 1990. The Structure of the Internal Bore in the Strait of Gibraltar and its Influence on the Atlantic Inflow. In, The Physical Oceanography of Sea Straits, Ed. L.J. Pratt. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 493-508.
• 1989 Journal of Geophysical Research
  Pettigrew, N.R., 1989. Direct Measurements of the Flow of Western Mediterranean Deep Water over the Gibraltar Sill. Journal of Geophysical Research, 94,18089-18093.
• Coastal and Estuarine Sciences
  Pettigrew, N.R. and S.P. Murray, 1986. The Coastal Boundary Layer and Inner Shelf. In, Baroclinic Processes on Continental Shelves, Ed. C.N.K. Mooers. Coastal and Estuarine Sciences, 3, AGU, 95-108.
• New Technology in Ocean Engineering
  Pettigrew, N.R. and J.D. Irish, 1986. Acoustic Doppler Profiling from the Sea Floor. In, Current Practices and New Technology in Ocean Engineering, Eds. T. McGuinness and H.H. Shih, 15-21.
• Journal of Physical Oceanography
  Brown, W.S., N.R. Pettigrew and J.D. Irish, 1985. The Nantucket Shoals Flux Experiment (NSFE79) Part 2: The Structure and Variability of Across Shelf Pressure Gradients. Journal of Physical Oceanogr.aphy, 15, 749-771.
• Journal of Geophysical Research
  Pettigrew, N.R., D.W. Townsend, J. P. Wallinga, P. J. Brickley, and R. D. Hetland. Observations of the Eastern Maine Coastal Current and its Offshore Extensions (in press, Journal of Geophysical Research)
• Journal of Plankton Research
  Pettigrew, N. R., D. W. Townsend, R. A. Hyde, and C. S. Yentsch. The influence of internal waves on the light exposure of phytoplankton. (accepted: Journal of Plankton Research)

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