Samuel W. Stevens

Postdoctoral Fellow Oceanography

Hakai Institute/CPROOF
graduate

I am interested in understanding how the ocean evolves, what drives those changes, and the effect of those changes on regional ecosystems. I use a wide variety of observations and model outputs to help me with these studies and where possible, I like to design and build my own inexpensive instruments to help me take these measurements (see here for an example of one such instrument). As a postdoctoral researcher with the Hakai Institute, I am a part of the Canadian-Pacific Robotic Ocean Observing Facility (CPROOF) research team where I primarily use autonomous gliders, floats, and moorings to understand the physical processes that influence ecosystems along the northeast Pacific continental shelf. 

Lecturer

  • Methods in Oceanography (EOSC 473/573) - UBC, 2022

Teaching Assistant

  • Modern Observational Oceanography - Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, 2019
  • The Fluid Earth: Atmosphere and Ocean (EOSC 112) - UBC, 2018
  • Computer Methods in Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (EOSC 211) - UBC, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
EOSC 211 · Computer Methods in Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric SciencesEOSC 112 · The Climate SystemEOSC 473 · Methods in Oceanography

2017 - 2024: PhD Oceanography, University of British Columbia (switched from MSc. in September 2019)
2014 - 2017: Research Technician, Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study
2013 - 2014: MetOcean Scientist, Fugro EMU
2010 - 2013: BSc Oceanography, University of Southampton

See here for full C.V.

2024

  • S. W. Stevens, R. Pawlowicz, T. Tanhua, L. Gerke, W. Nesbitt, J. Chassé, A. Drozdowski, D. Wallace (2024). Deep inflow transport and dispersion in the Gulf of St. Lawrence revealed by a tracer release experiment. Communications: Earth and Environment, 5, 338, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01505-5

  • B. Beutel* and S. W. Stevens* (2024). Discovering DIY Oceanography: Building Floats to Track Deep Ocean Currents. Science Activities, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00368121.2024.2376753. *Equal contribution.

2023

  • S. W. Stevens, and R. Pawlowicz, (2023): Swish floats: an inexpensive neutrally buoyant float to monitor dispersion in coastal seas. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 40, 1493–1508, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-23-0045.1.

  • Sun, Y., Francois, R., Pawlowicz, R., Maldonado, M.T., S.W. Stevens, Soon, M. (2023). Distribution, sources and dispersion of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the water column of the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada. Science of The Total Environment, 873, 162174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162174

2022

  • Kuang, C., S.W. Stevens, Pawlowicz, R., Maldonado, M.T., Cullen, J.T., Francois, R. (2022). Factors controlling the temporal variability and spatial distribution of dissolved cadmium in the coastal Salish Sea. Continental Shelf Research, 243, 104761. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2022.104761

2021

  • S.W. Stevens, Pawlowicz, R., Allen, S.E. (2021). A Study of Intermediate Water Circulation in the Strait of Georgia Using Tracer-Based, Eulerian, and Lagrangian Methods. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 51(7), 1875–1893. https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0225.1

2020

  • S.W. Stevens, Johnson, R.J., Maze, G., et al. (2020). A recent decline in North Atlantic subtropical mode water formation. Nature Climate Change, 10(4), 335–341. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0722-3