Richard E. Thomson is a researcher in coastal and deep-sea physical oceanography within the Ocean Sciences Division. Coastal oceanographic processes on the continental shelf and slope including coastally trapped waves, upwelling and baroclinic instability; hydrothermal venting and the physics of buoyant plumes; linkage between circulation and zooplankton biomass aggregations at hydrothermal venting sites; analysis and modelling of landslide generated tsunamis; paleoclimate using tree ring records and sediment cores from coastal inlets and basins.