Paola Cessi is a professor of oceanography in the Physical Oceanography Research Division at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

Her research focuses on theories of the general circulation of the ocean with an emphasis on the role of the ocean in climate. She has also worked on theoretical aspects of the atmospheric circulation and on simple models of coupled atmosphere and ocean dynamics. Other interests include geostrophic turbulence and rotating convection.

Born in Bologna, Italy, she received an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Bologna, Italy, and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology–Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution joint program.

She has served as an associate editor for the Journal of Physical Oceanographyand as a referee for a number of journals, including the Journal of Climate, the Journal of Fluid Dynamics, Geophysical Research Letters, and Science.

Last updated May 2006