Welcome to the website of the Fluvial, Oceanic, and Water-level Sciences (FLOWS) research group of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University. The unifying theme of our work is the influence of hydrodynamic processes on ecosystems. Though we specialize in physical oceanography, we study topics ranging from juvenile salmon to climate change, and wavelet transforms to beach ripples.

Water is the best of all things.
Pindar
Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams – they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do – they all contain truths.
Muhammed Ali
So, I’m just gon’ sit on the dock of the bay Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay Wastin’ time
Otis Redding. (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay. The Dock of the Bay. 1968
You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.
Rabindranath Tagore
For many of us, water simply flows from a faucet, and we think little about it beyond this point of contact. We have lost a sense of respect for the wild river, for the complex workings of a wetland, for the intricate web of life that water supports.
Sandra Postel
I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
Langston Hughes
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
Heraclitus
Cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good, Now, cryin’ won’t help you, praying won’t do you no good, When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move
Led Zeppelin. "When the Levee Breaks". Led Zeppelin IV. 1971
On your arrival on that coast, endeavor to learn if there be any port within your reach frequented by the sea-vessels of any nation, and to send two of your trusty people back by sea, in such way as shall appear practicable, with a copy of your notes.
President Thomas Jefferson
Whenever I gaze up at the moon, I feel like I’m on a time machine. I am back to that precious pinpoint of time, standing on the foreboding yet beautiful – Sea of Tranquility. I could see our shining blue planet Earth poised in the darkness of space.
Buzz Aldrin, in an article for National Geographic News (May 12, 2013)