Research

I'm a polar oceanographer at the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Tromsø, Norway. In my research, I focus on sea ice-ocean interactions and physical-biological coupling in polar regions and lately also along the northern Norwegian coast. My current projects range from a field and modelling study exploring the hydrography and environment of a local fjord just outside Tromsø, exploration into physical drivers of swarm formation of Antarctic krill in the Southern Ocean or Calanus on the northern Norwegian shelf, to air-sea-ice interaction in the Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard. I spend 40% of my time at the University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, where I teach an introductory course in oceanography, and support teaching and research at the Institute of Arctic and Marine Biology as physical oceanographer. Additionally, I teach at the University Centre of the Westfjords in Isafjordur, Iceland.

After my PhD, I worked as researcher in the ICE-Fluxes project of the Centre for Ice, Climate and Ecosystems at the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI). In that project, I combined the two research areas that have been my main interests since the beginning of my scientific career: polar physical oceanography and sea ice research. ICE-Fluxes looked at vertical fluxes (heat and momentum) from the atmosphere through sea ice into the Arctic Ocean and vice versa, both on small- and larger scales. I focussed on the small scales, looking at fluxes through turbulence in the upper ocean and especially in the few meters underneath sea ice cover. On the other hand, I wanted to know the impact of the sea ice cover on the upper ocean, particularly the impact of ice thickness and thickness distribution on larger spatial scales.

For my PhD, I investigated near-surface currents near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula using observations and models. Near-surface in this case means a depth of about 15 meters. As part of the Antarctic Drifter Experiment: Links to Isobaths and Ecosystems (ADELIE), we deployed 40 drifters drogued at 15 meters in the northwestern Weddell Sea. They revealed new insight into the frontal and current system of the area and showed pathways for particles in the surface mixed layer. Those drifters are the first in the region, however, they can only provide a snapshot in time. I'm interested in the interannual variability of drifter pathways and frontal positions. As the currents transport nutrients, krill and other plankton, the variability is of importance for the ecosystem on both sides of the Antarctic Peninsula and in the Scotia Sea. The work was supervised by Sally Thorpe, Karen Heywood and Jon Watkins at the British Antarctic Survey and the University of East Anglia.