CODY BENTON
A LITTLE ABOUT ME
I am a recent graduate from UNC Wilmington where I received my bachelors in physics as well as minors in physical oceanography and mathematics. Growing up in Wilmington, North Carolina, I spent a lot of time in the ocean. I started surfing when I was 13, and I had the pleasure to work for Carolina Beach Ocean Rescue for six years. This is how my fascination with the ocean began. It wasn't until my junior year at UNCW that I took a class in physical oceanography. That's when I learned that I could use physics to quantify the processes that I had witnessed growing up at the beach, such as, tides, breaking waves, erosion and even rip currents. At this point, I was hooked.
My other passions include education, experiencing the outdoors and living in a more sustainable way. I plan to pursue a graduate degree in the field of physical oceanography as it intersects so many of my interests. This site's purpose is to keep you updated on what I am up to as well as document some of the work I have done!
MY WORK
2021 SECOORA DATA CHALLENGE
May 2021 - January 2022
The Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program (CORMP) maintains a mooring (OB27) in 30m water depth on the North Carolina Shelf, which has collected ocean current data since 2000. In general, long-term ocean current data is scarce. Therefore, OB27 offers a unique opportunity to resolve ocean variability at the seasonal and inter-annual time scales. After processing the data, I will do an analysis of the available marine and hydrokinetic energy (MHK). Due to the length of the data from OB27, my focus will be on resolving any seasonality or inter-annual variability that may be present in the ocean currents off the coast of North Carolina.
BAROCLINIC TIDES ON THE NORTH CAROLINA SHELF
January 2021-May 2021
For my senior capstone in physics I looked at the temperature at the surface and bottom of the water column on the shelf offshore of Wilmington. Data from 2013 suggests that the water column is well mixed most of the year but becomes stratified in the summer months, leading to the potential of baroclinic waves. A harmonic tidal analysis showed that M2 and K1 constituents of the baroclinic component of the velocity increased in size during the summer months, as well as changed orientation to have the largest variability in the cross-shore direction.
