I am a PhD student in physical oceanography, researching submesoscale fronts. With typical scales of about 0.1 to 10 km, they are too small for their dynamics to be directly resolved in global models. Nevertheless, they strongly influence the energy cascade in the world ocean, thereby shaping processes that control weather, climate, and ecosystems.

Current research topics

I currently analyze observational data from the Agulhas region at the southern tip of Africa, a key area for the global ocean circulation and the climate system. There, we were able to track an exceptionally sharp front over several days and document its temporal evolution in detail. My research is carried out as part of the Collaborative Research Centre TRR181, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

In parallel, I work within the SkaMixWMT project as part of an international consortium of 11 institutes, investigating water-mass transformation (WMT) in the Skagerrak. The Skagerrak is particularly well suited as a natural laboratory because multiple water masses meet within a relatively small area. This enables both detailed observations and realistic modelling of small-scale processes. Water-mass transformation is closely linked to fronts, and understanding this coupling is at the core of my research.

Observation strategy on the SkaMixWMT Cruise

The observations include (1) remote sensing measurements, (2) quadcopter measurements, (3) ship-based measurements, (4) surface drifter observations, (5) drifting sensor chains, (6) towed ADCP measurements, (7) ScanFish measurements, and (8) microstructure profiler measurements.