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Environmental Sciences
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Environmental Sciences

D-Index
131
Citations
72712
World Ranking
67
National Ranking
26

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in United States Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in United States Leader Award
  • 2002 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2001 - Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Overview

James C. McWilliams is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles in the United States. Their research primarily focuses on Earth and Planetary Sciences, with significant contributions to Environmental Science. Key subfields include Oceanography, Atmospheric Science, Global and Planetary Change, Earth-Surface Processes, and Statistical and Nonlinear Physics.

The research topics covered by McWilliams encompass Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes, Climate variability and models, Marine and coastal ecosystems, Ocean Waves and Remote Sensing, Tropical and Extratropical Cyclones Research, Geology and Paleoclimatology Research, and Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations.

Frequent collaborative coauthors in McWilliams's publications include Fayçal Kessouri, Lionel Renault, Daniele Bianchi, Pierre Damien, and Roy Barkan.

Publications by McWilliams have appeared in several venues, with notable frequency in the Journal of Physical Oceanography, Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans, Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), arXiv (Cornell University), and Ocean Modelling.

Some of the recent papers associated with McWilliams's research are:

  • Oceanic Frontogenesis, 2021, Annual Review of Marine Science
  • Accumulation, transformation and transport of microplastics in estuarine fronts, 2022, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
  • Climate-driven aerobic habitat loss in the California Current System, 2020, Science Advances
  • Coastal eutrophication drives acidification, oxygen loss, and ecosystem change in a major oceanic upwelling system, 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Biogeochemical variability in the California Current System, 2021, Progress In Oceanography

McWilliams has contributed to book publications as well, including the work titled Quasi-linear Theory for Surface Wave-Current Interactions published by Springer International Publishing in 2022.

Awards received by McWilliams include membership in the National Academy of Sciences since 2002 and fellowship at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) since 2001.

Best Publications

  • The regional oceanic modeling system (ROMS): a split-explicit, free-surface, topography-following-coordinate oceanic model

    Alexander F. Shchepetkin;James C. McWilliams

  • Oceanic vertical mixing: a review and a model with a nonlocal boundary layer parameterization

    W. G. Large;J. C. McWilliams;S. C. Doney

  • Isopycnal mixing in ocean circulation models

    Peter R. Gent;James C. Mcwilliams

  • The emergence of isolated coherent vortices in turbulent flow

    James C. Mcwilliams

  • Ocean forecasting in terrain-following coordinates: Formulation and skill assessment of the Regional Ocean Modeling System

    D. B. Haidvogel;H. Arango;W. P. Budgell;B. D. Cornuelle

  • North Pacific Gyre Oscillation links ocean climate and ecosystem change

    E. Di Lorenzo;N. Schneider;K. M. Cobb;P. J. S. Franks

  • Open boundary conditions for long-term integration of regional oceanic models

    Patrick Marchesiello;James C. McWilliams;Alexander Shchepetkin

  • Submesoscale currents in the ocean.

    James C. McWilliams

  • Parameterizing eddy-induced tracer transports in ocean circulation models

    Peter R. Gent;Jurgen Willebrand;Trevor J. McDougall;James C. McWilliams

  • A method for computing horizontal pressure-gradient force in an oceanic model with a nonaligned vertical coordinate

    Alexander F. Shchepetkin;James C. McWilliams

  • Mesoscale to Submesoscale Transition in the California Current System. Part I: Flow Structure, Eddy Flux, and Observational Tests

    Xavier Capet;J. C. McWilliams;M. J. Molemaker;A. F. Shchepetkin

  • Equilibrium structure and dynamics of the California Current System

    Patrick Marchesiello;James C. McWilliams;Alexander Shchepetkin

  • Langmuir turbulence in the ocean

    James C. McWILLIAMS;Peter P. Sullivan;Chin-Hoh Moeng

  • A SUBGRID-SCALE MODEL FOR LARGE-EDDY SIMULATION OF PLANETARY BOUNDARY-LAYER FLOWS

    Peter P. Sullivan;James C. McWilliams;Chin-Hoh Moeng

  • Submesoscale, coherent vortices in the ocean

    James C. McWilliams

  • Global heat and salt transports by eddy movement

    Changming Dong;James C. McWilliams;Yu Liu;Dake Chen

  • Simulations of the Small-Scale Turbulent Dynamo

    Alexander A. Schekochihin;Alexander A. Schekochihin;Steven C. Cowley;Steven C. Cowley;Samuel F. Taylor;Samuel F. Taylor;Jason L. Maron;Jason L. Maron

  • Sensitivity to Surface Forcing and Boundary Layer Mixing in a Global Ocean Model: Annual-Mean Climatology

    William G. Large;Gokhan Danabasoglu;Scott C. Doney;James C. McWilliams

  • On the evolution of isolated, nonlinear vortices

    James C. McWilliams;Glenn R. Flierl

  • A Vector Geometry–Based Eddy Detection Algorithm and Its Application to a High-Resolution Numerical Model Product and High-Frequency Radar Surface Velocities in the Southern California Bight

    Francesco Nencioli;Changming Dong;Tommy Dickey;Libe Washburn

  • Mesoscale to Submesoscale Transition in the California Current System. Part II: Frontal Processes

    X. Capet;J. C. McWilliams;M. J. Molemaker;A. F. Shchepetkin

  • Correction and commentary for Ocean forecasting in terrain-following coordinates: Formulation and skill assessment of the regional ocean modeling system by Haidvogel et al., J. Comp. Phys. 227, pp. 3595-3624

    Alexander F. Shchepetkin;James C. McWilliams

Frequent Co-Authors

Peter P. Sullivan
Peter P. Sullivan National Center for Atmospheric Research
Alexander Schekochihin
Alexander Schekochihin University of Oxford
Peter R. Gent
Peter R. Gent National Center for Atmospheric Research
Lionel Renault
Lionel Renault University of California, Los Angeles
Yi Chao
Yi Chao University of California, Los Angeles
Gokhan Danabasoglu
Gokhan Danabasoglu National Center for Atmospheric Research
William G. Large
William G. Large National Center for Atmospheric Research
Patrick Marchesiello
Patrick Marchesiello Paul Sabatier University
Annalisa Bracco
Annalisa Bracco Georgia Institute of Technology
Sonya Legg
Sonya Legg Princeton University

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