Office Location: 3rd floor Craig Mair Building, School of Ocean Sciences

Email: t.p.rippeth@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: 01248 382293

Location: School of Ocean Sciences, Askew Street, Menai Bridge, LL59 5AB

Research Gate: Tom_Rippeth2   Google Scholar: Tom Rippeth

Overview

Tom is the established Chair in Physical Oceanography. He is an observational oceanographer with a strong research interest in turbulence and mixing in the marine environment. His work has involved the development of new technqiues for the measurement of aquatic turbulence, and the use of turbulence measurements to identify, unravel and quantify key energy pathways from the tide and wind to mixing in the ocean. His research focuses on the impact of mixing across key interfaces in the Earth System. These have included the mixing up of heat and melting of Arctic Sea ice, the mixing of nutrients which support ocean primary productivity and mediation of deep water oxygen by mixing. His main current research interest are the marine impacts of mixing by turbulent wakes generated by the tidal flow past next generation floating wind farms.

Tom is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and the Royal Meteorological Society. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Research Areas

Turbulence and Mixing

High Latitude Physical Oceanography

Ocean Circulation and Climate

• PhD: Physical Oceanography
  University Of Wales, 1993
• MSc: Physical Oceanography
  University Of Wales, 1989
• BSc: Physics and Meteorology
  University of Reading, 1987

I teach physical oceanography and meterology across a range of modules at undergraduate and MSc level. I have also supervised numerious MSc porjects.

PhD supervision includes:

Completed: Brian Scannell (2020), Katie Sieradzen (2025), Jingnan Li (2017), John Siddorn (2015), Ben Lincoln (2012), Eleanor Howlett (2010) as lead supervisor. Natasha Lucas (2020), Jess Mead Silvester (2017), Charlotte Williams (2014), Holly Pelling (2013), Phil Wiles (2008), Matthew Palmer (2008) and Neil Fisher (2004) as co-supervisor.

Tom offers a number of very timely research topics for PhD and MRes study here at Bangor University. These cover the impacts of floating wind turbines on the marine environment, Arctic Ocean mixing processes, the role of vertical mixing in biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and carbon in the ocean and in lakes, and the development of techniques to measure turbulence in the aquatic environment.   

Tom's research is primarily funded by NERC, from whom he has received £2.36 million as PI and £3.1 million as a co-I. In addition to a numebr of standard grants, Tom has also been a member of the ASBO, TEACOSI, OSMOSIS, FASTNET and CANDYFLOS consortia. He has also received research funding from the EU, Leverhulme Trust and EPSRC.

Ongoing Projects:

EPSRC funded "Measurable metrics for characterisation of large-scale turbulent structures in tidal races for the marine tidal energy industry". PI: Martin Austin

NERC funded NE/R01275x/1 "Primary Productivity driven by escalating nutrient fluxes". PI: Yueng-Djern Lenn. Project partners Alfred Wagner Institute, NOC Liverpool and Strathclyde University.

NERC ENVISION DTP studentship: Brian Scannell

KESS funded PhD studentship: Natasha Lucas.

Past Reseach Funding:

1999-2002: NERC Post Doctoral Fellowship: Tom Rippeth

2002-7: NERC Advanced Fellowship: Tom Rippeth

Vertical Exchange: its forcing, mechanisms and impacts.

2002-6: NER/A/S/2001/0961 NERC Standard Grant:  Physical-biological control of new production within the seasonal thermocline. PI: Prof. Patrick Holligan (Southampton Oceanography Centre). co-I: Prof. John Simpson and Dr Tom Rippeth (Bangor), Dr. Jonathan Sharples (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory). Total: 416,528. Bangor funds: £228,273

2003-6: NER/A/S/2002/0781 NERC Standard Grant: Turbulent control of the properties and flux of suspended matter in tide-stirred shelf seas. PI: Drs Colin Jago Co-I: Sarah Jones (Marine Sediments Group) and Tom Rippeth. Funds: £295,991

2004-5: NE/C513318/1: Coastal Observatory: Second in situ site – resolving the property gradient. PI: MJ Howarth (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory), co-Is T Rippeth and others. Total Funds:  £232,000.

2004-7: NER/D/S/2002/0965 NERC Standard Grant:  The structure of turbulence in shelf seas using Autosub. PI: Prof. John Simpson. co-I Prof Steve Thorpe FRS, Dr Tom Rippeth (Bangor) and Prof. Tom Osborn (John Hopkins University, Baltimore). Funds: £284,004

2002-5: EU Framework V: Mabene consortium. To study the flow over mussel beds and mussel feeding rates. Bangor PIs: Prof John Simpson and Dr Tom Rippeth. Bangor funds: £164,000.

2006-7: NE/D007003/1 NERC Small grant: The development and testing of new techniques for the estimation of profiles of epsilon using an acoustic Dopple current profiler (ADCP). PI: Dr Tom Rippeth co-I: JH Simpson. Total funds: £63,368

2006-2009: NE/E522716:  Applied Physical Oceanography (MTG). PI: T Rippeth. Funds: £150,470.

2009-2011: NE/H525397: MSc Applied Physical Oceanography (MTG): PI: T Rippeth. Funds: £105,202.

2007-9: NERC Arctic IPY call:  Arctic Synoptic Basin wide Oceanography Consortium. Total: £1.7M.  Lead institution: University College London. Bangor PI: Dr Tom Rippeth. Total Bangor funds requested: £144,932 (direct cost model). A further £53,000 was subsequently awarded to Bangor to participate in a second Arctic cruise.

2006-9:  NE/D0011566/1 NERC Standard Grant:  The fate of freshwater in tidally stirred shelf seas. PI: Dr Tom Rippeth (Bangor). co-I: Dr Alex Souza & MJ Howarth (Proudman Oceanographic Labs, Liverpool University). Total: £313,950. Bangor funds: £213,367.

2008-11: NE/F002858/1 NERC Standard Grant: A wind driven nutrient pump. PI: TP Rippeth. Co-I J Sharples (Proudman Oceanographic Labs). Total Funds: £700,097. Bangor total: £430,547.

2009-11: NE/F019467/1 NERC Standard Grant: A New Method for the Estimation of Profiles of Diffusivity in the stratified Marine Environment.PI: TP Rippeth. Co-Is P Wiles and JH Simspon. Total: £203,028.

2009-10: NE/ G010986/1 NERC Small Grant: Diapcynal transfer of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus across the seasonal thermocline in stratified shelf seas. PI: H Kennedy. Co-Is; Prof DN Thomas and TP Rippeth. Total: £64,393.

2008-10: F/00174/L Leverhulme Trust Grant: Visualization of time-varying volume data based on topological hierarchy. PI: I Soo Lim. Co-Is: N John (Bangor - Computing), K Hughes (Bangor - Chemistry) and TP Rippeth. Total: £66,000.

2011-2014 F003101 The Environment of the Arctic: Climate, Ocean and Sea Ice (tea-cosi) NERC Arctic Programme Consortium. PI: Dr Sheldon Bacon (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton). Partners: UCL, Oxford Uni, Bangor Uni, SAMS, Southampton Uni, Reading Uni, NOC. Bangor PI: Tom Rippeth with co-Is Yueng-Djern Lenn and Mattias Green. £3M grant. Total Bangor: £253,844

2011-2014. NE/1019794/1 OSMOSIS: Ocean Surface Mixing, Ocean Sub-mesoscale Interaction Study (NERC Consortium). PI: Prof Stephen Belcher (Reading University). Partners: Southampton Uni, Reading Uni, Oxford Uni, Bangor Uni, UEA, SAMS, NOC, Met Office.  Bangor PI: T Rippeth with M Green. £3.6M grant. Total Bangor: £351,031.

2011-2015. FASTNEt: Fluxes Across Sloping Topography of the North East Atlantic (NERC Consortium). PI Mark Inall (SAMS). Partners: NOC, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Liverpool and Plymouth Universities. Bangor PI: Mattias Green, co-Is: T Rippeth and JH Simpson. £3.5M Grant. Total Bangor: £419,734.

2012 - 2016. F003861 NERC Consortium Grant: Carbon and nutrient dynamics and fluxes over shelf systems. Lead: Prof J Sharples (Liverpool University). Bangor PI: S Wilson. co-I: TP Rippeth. £3.5M grant. Bangor share: £64,753.

2014-2017. NE/R01275X/1 Standard Grant: Pcynocline mixing in shelf seas. Lead Jeff Polton (NOC Liverpool). Bangor PI. T Rippeth.