Interests

  • Marine biogeochemistry and bio-physical interactions
  • Southern Ocean carbon cycling and phytoplankton dynamics
  • Impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on phytoplankton ecology
  • Biogeochemical modeling
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Projects

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AWI (since 01/2020)
  • At AWI, my project focuses on tipping points in Antarctic Bottom Water formation and carbon sequestration. Using FESOM-REcoM with a representation of ice shelf cavities, a specific focus area of my work will be the Weddell Sea, where the model has enhanced grid resolution. 


ETH Zürich (2014-2019)
  • In my PhD project, I studied the phytoplankton community of the Southern Ocean, with a particular focus on diatoms, coccolithophores, and Phaeocystis. Ultimately, the goal was to assess the imprint of phytoplankton community structure on carbon and nutrient cycling. To achieve this, I implemented an explicit representation of coccolithophores and Phaeocystis colonies into the Southern Ocean setup of ROMS-BEC, and used this model to assess the factors controlling Southern Ocean phytoplankton biogeography and the implications for biogeochemical cycles.

Geophysical Institute, Bergen / University of Bergen (2013-2014)
  • In my master's thesis, I analyzed the role of both dissolved and particulate fluxes across the sediment-water column interface for the cycling of nutrients, oxygen and carbon in the North and Baltic Sea. Using the coupled hydrodynamic-sea ice-NPZD-carbonate model ECOSMO, I first implemented a new parametrization of sedimentary respiration accounting for the anoxic nature of sediments below a thin oxygenated surface layer. Performing sensitivity experiments, I thereafter quantified the importance of sediment resuspension for phytoplankton dynamics and carbonate chemistry. The results revealed strong regional differences between the seas.
  • This work was mainly supervised by Dr. Corinna Schrum and Dr. Ute Daewel, but included two stays at Dalhousie University to work in the Marine Environmental Modeling Group under the supervision of Dr. Katja Fennel. The visits at Dalhousie University were financed by the Norwegian-Canadian exchange program „Prediction and Observation of the Marine Environment (POME)“. During my studies at the University of Bergen, I was financially supported by two consecutive one year's scholarships for graduates of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

DTU Aqua, Copenhagen (2013)
  • During my master's studies, I spent two months at DTU Aqua, Copenhagen, to work in the „Payne Lab - Impacts of Climate Variability on Life in the Ocean“. Supervised by both Ana Sofia Ferreira and Dr. Mark Payne, I analyzed phytoplankton bloom dynamics and its driving forces in the northeast North Atlantic using empircal orthogonal functions (EOF).

GEOMAR, Kiel (2010-2012)
  • During my undergraduate studies at GEOMAR/University of Kiel, I worked as a research assistant in the paleoceanography group.
  • In the first project (2010-2011, „Holocene Sediment and Freshwater Input on the Nile deep-sea fan (HOSINIL)“ supervised by Dr. Cécile Blanchet), I applied inorganic geochemical methods to a sediment core from the Nile Delta, as well as picking different species of microfossils (foraminifera, pteropods).
  • From 2011-2012, I assisted Dr. Kristin Haynert in the monitoring of a laboratory experiment examining potential impacts of ocean acidification on benthic foraminifera. I was responsible for the measurements of various chemical water properties, such as nutrients and alkalinity.

        Related publications:
  • Blanchet, C. L., M. Frank, S. Schouten (2014): Asynchronous Changes in Vegetation, Runoff and Erosion in the Nile River Watershed during  the Holocene. PLOS ONE, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115958
  • Haynert, K., Schönfeld, J., Schiebel, R., Wilson, B., and Thomsen, J.: Response of benthic foraminifera to ocean acidification in their natural sediment environment: a long-term culturing experiment. Biogeosciences 11: 1581-1597, doi:10.5194/bg-11-1581-2014, 2014

Texas A&M University, College Station (2011)
  • Funded by the Rise Worldwide Program of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), I spent two months in the Department of Geography at Texas A&M University in College Station under the supervision of Dr. Steven Quiring. Using different metrics of hurricane intensity, I developed and evaluated the robustness of both multiple linear regression models and generalized additive models of interannual hurricane intensity variability in the North Atlantic.