Overview
I am interested in the study of the global ocean circulation and its role in climate. In particular my research has focused on the polar regions and ocean mixing, involving both models and observations. I have developed an inverse model in thermohaline coordinates, ‘RTHIM’, which diagnoses the circulation and mixing for an enclosed volume of the ocean from limited observations. My work at Exeter is concerned with the Southern Ocean carbon sink, in contribution to the SONATA project.
Broad research specialisms
Ocean circulation, carbon sink, ocean mixing, inverse modelling.
Qualifications
PhD, University of East Anglia, 2014
MPhys, University of York, 2007
Career
PostDoc at the University of Exeter, 2018-Present
PostDoc at the National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool 2014-2018
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Publications
Journal articles
Coggins A, Watson AJ, Schuster U, Mackay N, King B, McDonagh E, Poulton AJ (2023). Surface ocean carbon budget in the 2017 south Georgia diatom bloom: Observations and validation of profiling biogeochemical argo floats. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 209, 105275-105275.
Mackay N, Watson AJ, Suntharalingam P, Chen Z, Landschützer P (2022). Author Correction: Improved winter data coverage of the Southern Ocean CO2 sink from extrapolation of summertime observations. Communications Earth & Environment, 3(1).
Mackay N, Watson AJ, Suntharalingam P, Chen Z, Landschützer P (2022). Improved winter data coverage of the Southern Ocean CO2 sink from extrapolation of summertime observations.
Communications Earth & Environment,
3(1).
Abstract.
Mackay N, Watson A (2021). Winter Air-Sea CO<inf>2</inf> Fluxes Constructed from Summer Observations of the Polar Southern Ocean Suggest Weak Outgassing.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans,
126(5).
Abstract.
Mackay N, Wilson C, Holliday NP, Zika JD (2020). The Observation-Based Application of a Regional Thermohaline Inverse Method to Diagnose the Formation and Transformation of Water Masses North of the OSNAP Array from 2013 to 2015.
Journal of Physical Oceanography,
50(6), 1533-1555.
Abstract.
Lozier MS, Li F, Bacon S, Bahr F, Bower AS, Cunningham SA, De Jong MF, De Steur L, DeYoung B, Fischer J, et al (2019). A sea change in our view of overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic.
Science,
363(6426), 516-521.
Abstract.
Mackay N, Wilson C, Zika J, Holliday NP (2018). A Regional Thermohaline Inverse Method for Estimating Circulation and Mixing in the Arctic and Subpolar North Atlantic.
Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology,
35(12), 2383-2403.
Abstract.
Mackay N, Ledwell JR, Messias MJ, Naveira Garabato AC, Brearley JA, Meijers AJS, Jones DC, Watson AJ (2018). Diapycnal Mixing in the Southern Ocean Diagnosed Using the DIMES Tracer and Realistic Velocity Fields.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans,
123(4), 2615-2634.
Abstract.
Susan Lozier M, Bacon S, Bower AS, Cunningham SA, Femke de Jong M, de Steur L, deYoung B, Fischer J, Gary SF, Greenan BJW, et al (2017). Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program: a New International Ocean Observing System.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society,
98(4), 737-752.
Abstract.
Watson AJ, Ledwell JR, Messias MJ, King BA, Mackay N, Meredith MP, Mills B, Naveira Garabato AC (2013). Rapid cross-density ocean mixing at mid-depths in the Drake Passage measured by tracer release.
Nature,
501(7467), 408-411.
Abstract.
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