Associate ProfessorEmail: hsalmun@hunter.cuny.edu
Phone: 212-772-5224
Office: 1041 HN
Biography:
Prof. Salmun’s interests are in the areas of environmental fluid mechanics, climate dynamics, oceanography and coastal processes. Her research concentrates on understanding and modeling processes, particularly as applied to interdisciplinary aspects of atmospheric, marine, and environmental sciences. While at Hunter, she has been engaged in research that investigates the coupling of the atmosphere and the land surface in global climate models. In the past year Prof. Salmun’s research has extended to interactions between the surface and the atmosphere but with a focus on oceanic phenomena. In collaboration with Geography faculty and a colleague at NASA, she is carrying out research that investigates the use of local measurements from NOAA stations off the coast of Long Island to assess the local impact of U.S. east coast winter storms on beach erosion and storm surge in the New York Metropolitan region. More recently she has developed an interest in the dynamics of the Southern Ocean and the connections between that dynamic and climate, in particular in the context of a future anticipated climate change. Prof. Salmun intends to use her theoretical and modeling background to focus on understanding small-scale mixing processes and how these affect the large-scale circulation of the Southern Ocean.
Prof. Salmun has been the Undergraduate Adviser for the Environmental Studies major since it was approved, and with colleagues helped create the curriculum. She continues to up-date it and has developed new courses for the major, such as Advanced Oceanography, which she currently teaches with Prof. Buonaiuto, and Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, offered with the Physics Department. She has taught courses in the Hunter Honors Program and currently teaches with Prof. Buonaiuto (they also developed the course) the second semester of the required graduate course in Earth Systems Science for the Earth and Environmental Science Ph.D. Program at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Education:
Ph.D. 1989 The Johns Hopkins University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences M.S. 1980 University of Missouri-St. Louis, Department of Physics B.S. 1977 University of Buenos Aires, Departamento de Fisica
Research & Teaching Interests:
Environmental fluid mechanics, climate dynamics and climate change, oceanography and coastal processes, land surface-atmosphere interactions, mathematical modeling of geophysical flows
My research goal is to contribute to the understanding of small-scale processes in geophysical and environmental fluids and on parameterizing the effects of these processes on the large-scale flows. In particular to investigate turbulent mixing processes in boundary layers in atmospheric, estuarine and coastal areas, and the role of small-scale fluid motions on transport mechanisms in fluid media. Specifically, my current research focuses on (1) the impact of land-surface heterogeneities, and associated dynamical processes, on climate and climate variability; and (2) the application of boundary layer flows and boundary mixing theories to transport of tracers, particulates in suspension and pollutants in general (agrochemicals, for example) in aquatic environments such as estuaries (the Chesapeake Bay, for example).
My teaching goal is to continue to teach and to develop new courses in relation to my research interests. In addition, I want to teach courses that focus on interdisciplinary education, for example, courses that teach the physical and mathematical basis of the Earth's climate and global climate change and that also include the need to understand the far reaching implications of this change for humans.
My interest in, and commitment to, issues of gender, diversity and science continue to provide incentives for mentoring students in the sciences as well as teaching about the role of women and minorities in science and engineering.
Current Projects:
Impact of Land Surface Heterogeneities on Climate
Pollution and Aquatic Environments
Courses Taught:
- PGEOG 130 - Weather and Climate
- PGEOG 250 - Earth Systems Science I
- PGEOG 251 - Earth Systems Science II
- PGEOG 383.38 - Introduction to Fluid Mechanics
- GEOL 180 - Introduction to Oceanography
- ESS 717 - Earth Systems Science II (graduate level)
Illustrative Publications:
East Coast Cool-weather Storms in the New York Metropolitan Region (JAMC - 2009)
A Global Assessment of the Mosaic Approach to Modeling Land Surface Heterogeneity (JGR - July 2002)
Modeling the fate and transport of atrazine in the Upper Chesapeake Bay (ASCE EM - June 2002)
Salmun, H. and K. Goetchius, Assessing atrazine input and removal processes in the Chesapeake Bay environment: an overview. In Fate and Transport of Chemicals in the Environment: Impacts, Monitoring and Remediation, R. L. Lipnick, R. P. Mason and M. L. Phillips, Eds., ASC Plublisher, 2001.
Salmun, H., From teaching to learning: a course on women, gender and science. In A New Generation of Feminist Science Studies, M. Mayberry, B. Subramanian and L. Weasel, Eds., Routledge Press, 2001.
Salmun, H., Convection patterns in a triangular domain. Int. J. Heat & Mass Transfer 38, No 2, 351-362, 1995.
Salmun, H., The stability of a single-cell steady-state solution in a triangular enclosure. Int. J. Heat & Mass Transfer 38, No 2, 363-369, 1995.
Salmun, H. and O. M. Phillips, An experiment in boundary mixing. Part 2. The slope dependence at small angles. J. Fluid Mech., 240, 355-377, 1992.
Salmun, H., P. D. Killworth and J. R. Blundell, A two- dimensional model of boundary mixing. J. Geophys. Res., 96, No C10, 18447-18474, 1991.
Phillips, O. M., J. H. Shyu and H. Salmun, An experiment in boundary mixing: mean circulation and transport rates. J. Fluid Mech., 173, 473-499, 1986.
Salmun, H., R. F. Cahalan and G. R. North, Latitude-dependent sensitivity to stationary perturbations in simple climate models. J. Atmos. Sci., 37(8), 1980.
Phone: 212-772-5265 * Fax: 212-772-5268 * Email: geog@hunter.cuny.edu