Anna is an oceanographer and postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Oxford. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Biology from the University of Barcelona, an MSc in Oceanography from the University of Southampton, and a PhD in Ocean Biogeochemical Modelling from the University of Oxford. Anna’s research focuses on using computational tools and oceanographic observations to understand how complex marine biological processes, chemistry and environmental factors interact to transfer atmospheric CO2 to the ocean’s interior and seafloor in the form of particulate organic carbon. This process, known as the ocean’s biological carbon pump, is a critical ecosystem service that helps regulate atmospheric CO2 levels.
Research objectives
The 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) project aims to:
- To calibrate and validate a novel stochastic Lagrangian model of marine particles (called SLAMS-2.0) using four state-of-the-art ESA’s OC-CCI/BICEP datasets of the surface ocean ecosystem: (i) in situ bio-optical measurements of the photosynthesis-irradiance (P–I) curve parameters, (ii) satellite- derived net primary production (NPP), (iii) satellite-derived export production (EP), and (iv) satellite-derived distribution of the surface carbon budget into major phytoplankton functional types (PFTs).
- To implement SLAMS-2.0 to generate a global ocean view of transfer efficiency (Teff), complemented by other crucial metrics that explain the global pattern of Teff. Those include the size and velocity distribution of marine particles and the remineralisation length scale.
- To explore, through a sensitivity analysis of SLAMS-2.0, which particle characteristics (bottom-up controls) and ecosystem and environmental factors (top-down controls) mechanistically control Teff.
