David Munday

David Munday is a researcher at the University of Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences and affiliated with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). He serves as a supervisor for the Cambridge NERC Doctoral Landscape Awards (CREATES), focusing on ocean circulation and carbon storage research within the Climate and Environmental Science classification.

Dr. Munday's research centers on the role of small-scale processes in Southern Ocean circulation and their impact on deep ocean carbon storage. His work examines long-term climate change from the Eocene to present day, with particular interest in how tectonic rearrangements (such as the opening of Drake Passage) influence ocean gateways and global climate patterns. He employs numerical modeling approaches ranging from complex general circulation models (MITgcm, NEMO) to idealized channel models that isolate key mechanisms of interest.

As a DLA Supervisor, Dr. Munday mentors doctoral students investigating ocean connectivity changes during the Eocene period (30-35 million years ago). His current project interests include studying the impacts of low-latitude ocean gateway formation (such as the Isthmus of Panama) on ocean circulation and carbon storage, as well as examining ocean mixing processes during gateway opening and closure events. His research utilizes both established modeling frameworks and custom-coded simplified equation systems to address fundamental questions in paleoceanography and climate science.