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Podcast: The Rise of Marine Heat Waves

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Sep 10, 2026

How El Niño could bring punishing conditions to the West Coast this winter

The Washington Post
Dillon Amaya, an assistant professor of marine science at North Carolina State University, said the combination of higher sea levels and the potential for stormier-than-usual weather this fall and winter could increase the risk of coastal flooding and beach erosion.

Sep 10, 2026

California coast braces for another battering as new El Niño-related wave emerges in Pacific

Los Angeles Times
Another El Niño-influenced phenomenon — a “coastally trapped Kelvin wave” — is moving up the coast of Mexico and will soon hit the U.S. West Coast. It is expected to increase the sea level off the California coast by another 6 inches or so, and its effects could last months, according to Dillon Amaya, an expert on coastally trapped waves and an assistant professor at North Carolina State University’s Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

Sep 9, 2026

An Activity-Based Inversion Framework for Estimating Sectoral Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions Using Multi-Pollutant Satellite Observations

Geophysical Research Letters
MEAS-affiliated author: Zhen Qu

Sep 9, 2026

Estuarine circulation and bay-shelf exchange under river and wave forcing in Batemans Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Ocean Modelling
MEAS-affiliated author: Felix Deng

Sep 9, 2026

Geomorphometry in GRASS

Developments in Soil Science
MEAS-affiliated author: Helena Mitasova

Sep 8, 2026

Sudden sea level rise — tied to El Niño — is about to hit the California coast

CNN
“Typically, we think of El Niño and its impact on precipitation, but some of the first indications that El Niño is really occurring are the arrival of these coastally trapped waves,” oceanographer Dillon Amaya said.

Sep 5, 2026

Ocean indicators NOAA scientists are tracking for El Niño’s arrival on the West Coast

NOAA Headquarters
Coastally-trapped Kelvin waves, a signature of El Niño, traveled north along the West Coast during the 1997/1998 El Niño, as shown in a map of sea surface height anomalies. In a graphic provided by NC State's Dillon Amaya, darker reds show sea levels higher than normal, while darker blues show heights below normal. Scientists are now watching for similar waves to move up the West Coast this fall.

Sep 4, 2026

The convergent evolution of the pelvic suction cup: a unique key innovation in spiny-finned fishes

Science Advances
MEAS-affiliated author: Lily Hughes

Sep 2, 2026

California is about to see a sudden foot of sea level rise from El Niño. Here’s when it hits

San Francisco Chronicle
“It’s not a wave you can surf,” said Dillon Amaya, an assistant professor of marine science at North Carolina State University. “You’re not gonna be able to see it from your boat, but our instruments will see it as it passes by, like tide gauges.”

Sep 2, 2026

Podcast: The Rise of Marine Heat Waves

The Weather Channel | Weather Geeks Podcast
Dr. Dillon Amaya, whose research focuses on the complex relationship between the ocean and the atmosphere, helps the Weather Geeks explore the growing scientific interest in Pacific marine heat waves, lessons from some of the most notable events in recent years, and how these episodes can ripple through both weather and climate systems.