This award provides funding for a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship. The PI received her PhD in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The sponsoring scientists and host institutions are Dr. Jim Murray (University of Washington) and Dr. John Crusius (USGS - Seattle).
The research she will conduct for her Fellowship is focused on the exploration of what is driving iron (Fe) cycles in the coastal oceans and on the development of a new instrument that will improve the sampling of iron in the ocean. Oceans cover over 70% of the earth surface and are responsible for nearly 50% of annual primary productivity, yet these ecosystems remain significantly understudied relative to their terrestrial counterparts. Notably, trace nutrients such as iron which may be critical in driving (or limiting) primary productivity in the ocean remain only sparsely sampled. What data are available indicate that iron concentrations are highly variable and seasonally dependent offshore and especially in coastal areas where upwelling/downwelling cycles may be particularly important.
The PI will explore the extent to which coastal upwelling and hypoxia events may drive supply of Fe to overlying waters from sediments and will develop a methodology for automated high-frequency trace-metal clean sampling at ocean moorings which stands to improve data density for iron (and other metals and nutrients) by a factor of ten or more relative to existing solutions. The PI will develop a system for automated collection of samples via a novel trace-metal clean sampler for use at profiling moorings. Deployments at a near-shore validation site (~6 months, ORCA, Puget Sound) will be followed by sampling for 12 months at a scientifically relevant coastal shelf site. Ideally, this deployment will take place at the OOI Endurance Array Newport Line, where water column profilers are scheduled to be installed at various depths from 25-800m.
The PI will also participate in two educational initiatives, both of which involve underrepresented students in science projects. She will act as a science mentor for middle school students in the Seattle area via Project COOL, and she will mentor undergraduates who are participating in the University of Washington and Woods Hole internship programs.
