My current project, SLAM-DUNK (Combining a Stochastic LAgrangian Model of Marine Particles with ESA’s Big Data to Understand the Effects of a ChaNging Ocean on the PlanKtonic Food Web), is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Living Planet Fellowship (2024–2026). SLAM-DUNK integrates ESA’s satellite data on the global surface ocean carbon cycle with a novel stochastic Lagrangian model of marine particles, which I developed during my PhD, to explore the factors controlling the global pattern of the BCP's transfer efficiency. This data-model combination has broader scientific impacts, including: (i) advancing our understanding of how the BCP's transfer efficiency of particulate organic carbon may be affected by climate change; (ii) establishing cross-disciplinary partnerships between Earth observationalists and biogeochemical modellers to co-create novel datasets of satellite-driven ocean carbon metrics for the subsurface ocean; and (iii) enhancing the integration of surface ocean data (primarily acquired through remote sensing) with ocean interior data (acquired through in situ methods, like Biogeochemical-Argo floats).
Previously…
I completed my PhD here at Oxford (2016–2022) under Prof. Samar Khatiwala and Dr. Adrian Martin, supported by the NERC large grant COMICS (Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage). During my PhD, I developed a sophisticated mathematical model of stochastic, Lagrangian marine particles within the context of the BCP. These Lagrangian, discrete particles are stochastically produced according to biogeochemical rules, interact with one another and their ecosystem and gravitationally sink through the water column. By tracking particle’s position, biogeochemical and morphological traits, we gain insights into the processes that affect the transformation of surface ocean characteristics into the ocean’s interior.
My previous research project (2023–2014), funded by NERC and the Oxford Martin School’s Agile Initiative, involved collaboration between geologists, biologists and policy analysts to support the safe deployment of the UK’s first offshore geological CO2 storage (GCS) site. Offshore GCS is crucial for the UK’s decarbonisation goals but needs a policy framework to protect the marine environment from potential (although unlikely) risks, such as seawater acidification and toxicity following a leak of CO2 and/or brines from the sub-seabed geological reservoir. Together with Prof. Heather Bouman, I developed an ecological baseline assessment to help identify anomalies following a potential leak. Our assessment of baseline, ‘normal’ conditions of the marine environment focused on phytoplankton phenology metrics to enable cost-effective satellite monitoring and detect environmental changes in the ocean's carbon cycle.
