Bechara (Bash) Toulany

Physical Oceanographer

Current research and/or projects

My main focus is in developing, testing and evaluating state-of-the-art operational wave models and in improving their accuracy and efficiency. To accomplish this I have to deal with:

  • forecast marine winds
  • coupled atmosphere-ocean dynamics
  • wave physics, including wave-wave interactions and wave-current interactions
  • changing water levels due to tides or storm surge, especially in shallow coastal environments
  • unstructured spatial grids and variable time step resolutions
  • single one-way nested grids and two-way nested multi-grids.

Education and awards

M.A., Dalhousie University of Halifax, 1978

M.Sc., Dalhousie University of Halifax, 1984

Key publications

  1. C. Garrett and B. Toulany, 1979: A Variable-Depth Green’s Function for Shelf Edge Tides. Journal of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 9, No. 6, Nov. 1979, p. 1258-1272.
  2. C. Garrett and B. Toulany, 1981: Variability of the Flow through the Strait of Belle Isle. Journal of Marine Research, Vol. 39, No. 1, Jan. 1981, p. 163-189.
  3. C. Garrett and B. Toulany, 1982: Sea Level Variability Due to Meteorological Forcing in the Northeast Gulf of St. Lawrence. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 87, No. C3, Mar. 1982, p. 1968-1978.
  4. B. Toulany and C. Garrett, 1984: Geostrophic Control of Fluctuating Barotropic Flow through Straits. Journal of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 14, No. 4, Apr. 1984, p. 649-655.
  5. C. Garrett, F. Majaess and B. Toulany, 1985: Sea-Level Response at Nain, Labrador, to Atmospheric Pressure and Wind. Atmosphere-Ocean, Vol. 23, No. 2, Aug. 1985, p. 95-117.
  6. B. Toulany, B. Petrie and C. Garrett, 1987: The Frequency-Dependent Structure and Dynamics of Flow Fluctuations in the Strait of Belle Isle. Journal of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 17, No. 2, Feb. 1987, p. 185-196.
  7. B. Petrie, B. Toulany and C. Garrett, 1988: The Transport of Water, Heat and Salt through the Strait of Belle Isle. Atmosphere-Ocean, Vol. 26, No. 2, 1988, p. 234-252.
  8. F. Dobson, W. Perrie and B. Toulany, 1989: On the Deep-Water Fetch Laws for Wind-Generated Surface Gravity Waves. Atmosphere-Ocean, Vol.27, No. 1, 1989, p. 210-236.
  9. W. Perrie and B. Toulany, 1989: Correlations of Sea Level Pressure Fields for Objective Analysis. Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 117, No. 9, Sep. 1989, p. 1965-1974.
  10. W. Perrie and B. Toulany, 1990: Fetch Relations for Wind-Generated Waves as a Function of Wind-Stress Scaling. Journal of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 20, 1990, p. 1666-1681.
  11. W. Perrie and B. Toulany, 1995: Relating Friction Velocity to Spectral Wave Parameters. Journal of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 25, No. 2, Feb. 1995, p. 266-279.
  12. W. Perrie and B. Toulany, 1995: The Response of Ocean Waves to Turning Winds. Journal of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 25, No. 6, June 1995, p. 1116-1129.
  13. W. Perrie and B. Toulany, 1997: Open Ocean Response of Waves to Turning Winds. Journal of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 27, No. 6, Sep. 1997, p. 2055-2059.
  14. R. Q. Lin, W. Perrie, and B. Toulany, 2003: Equilibrium spectra of waves in finite water depth. Recent Research Developments in Geophysical Sciences, Vol. 5, 2003, p. 103-116: ISBN: 81-271-0026-9.
  15. F. Xu, W. Perrie, B. Toulany and P.C. Smith, 2007: Wind-Generated Waves in Hurricane Juan. Ocean Modelling 16, 2007, p. 188-208.
  16. R. Padilla, W. Perrie, B. Toulany and P. C. Smith, 2007: Modelling of Two Northwest Atlantic Storms with Third Generation Wave Models.Weather and Forecasting, Vol. 22, No. 6., p. 1229-1242.
  17. J. Tremblay, B. Toulany, W. Perrie, 2008: W. Scientific Advice on Causes of lobster Damage in LFA 33 and LFA 34. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Resp. 2008/004; 25 pages.
  18. B. Toulany, 1978: The Minimum of a Family of Convex Programmes - Disjunctive Programming. Department of Mathematics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Sep. 1978, M.A. Thesis supervised by Professor John Borwein, 108 pp.
  19. B. Toulany, 1985: The Structure and Dynamics of Flow Fluctuations in the Strait of Belle Isle. Department of Physical Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, May 1985, M.Sc. Thesis supervised by professor Christopher Garrett, 166 pp.