Cecilia is a PhD Candidate in Physical Oceanography in the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington with a research assistantship under the supervision of Dr. Jamie Morison at the Polar Science Center. Cecilia is interested in the large scale circulation of the Arctic Ocean. Her research calls for the use of time-varying ocean bottom pressure measurements from in situ bottom pressure sensors and remote observations from the satellite system GRACE. Variations in Arctic Ocean pressure at the bottom occur if the sea level changes, or if the salinity-dominated density of the water column changes, or a combination of both. The goal of her PhD work is to understand the driving mechanisms of bottom pressure changes in the Arctic from daily to inter-annual time scales, and explain the dynamics of the ocean circulation that are associated with the pressure variations.
Cecilia participated in the North Pole Environmental Observatory expedition during the spring of 2008 and 2010. She received her B.Sc. in Oceanography in Ensenada, B.C., Mexico, in 2004, and her M.Sc. in Oceanography in June 2008 from the UW.