By Oliver Bühler, New York University

Density interfaces in atmosphere and ocean fluid dynamics move up and down for a variety of reasons, some are related to fast waves such as gravity waves and other to slower vortical motions describing broader currents and weather systems.  An important question is how to disentangle these different dynamical mechanisms from limited data sets taken along one-dimensional transects by following a boat or an airplane.  This talk will describe the major issues that arise and some recent breakthroughs in mathematical data analysis techniques developed specifically for this problem.