Hell Research Group

Air-Sea Interaction Across Scales at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Momme C. Hell

Welcome to the Hell Research Group at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution! We are part of the Department of Physical Oceanography, where we pursue fundamental research into how the ocean surface — waves, winds, and sea ice — couples the ocean and atmosphere across the scales that shape the Earth system.

My work blends theory, observations, and modeling to deepen our understanding of the physical processes that govern Earth system dynamics and mid-latitude weather predictability. If you are interested in joining the group or collaborating, feel free to get in touch.

Research Focus

My research focuses on fundamental processes driving large biases in Earth system models and governing the predictability of mid-latitude weather. My topics span from ocean surface waves to large-scale Rossby waves and the atmospheric general circulation. I currently focus on:

  • Stochastic air-sea fluxes
  • Surface wave modeling
  • Sea ice–wave interaction
  • Ocean remote sensing observations
  • Atmospheric dynamics and weather extremes

Principal Investigator

Momme Hell joined WHOI as an Assistant Scientist in 2024, supported by the James E. and Barbara V. Moltz Early Career Science Fellowship. Previously, he was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in the Advanced Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University, where he studied wave–sea ice interactions and air-sea coupling in Earth system models.

Momme earned his doctorate in Physical Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego in 2020, where his research focused on ocean surface wave generation under extra-tropical storms, Southern Ocean wind statistics, and the use of seismic observations to infer storm positions and sea ice structure.

Earlier in his career, Momme studied ocean and atmospheric sciences at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel and at ETH Zurich, building a foundation in large-scale atmospheric dynamics and high-latitude ocean–atmosphere interaction.