Photo: North Pacific Ocean, December 2021
Biographical sketch
I am marine biogeochemist studying how distributions of trace metals impact life in the oceans. I will be completing my PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California at the end of August 2026.
My research interests include isotope geochemistry, atmospheric deposition modeling, oxidation and reduction of natrually occuring materials, application of synchrotron techniques, and impacts of global greenhouse gas emissions in the Anthropocene.
Research highlights
Annual summer phytoplankton blooms near the Hawaiian Islands draw down significant amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide. We examine if pulses of atmospheric deposition containing Fe stimulates these blooms.
Atmospheric dust from lithogenic, biogenic, and anthropogenic sources supplies variable amounts of Fe to the surface oceans. We measured Fe in aerosols, rainwater, and surface seawater across multiple environmental gradients in the Pacific Ocean.
Urban wildfires rapidly propagate contaminants to the environment. We monitored the distribution of contaminants following the Eaton Fire in LA and their persistence in residential areas.
Selected work
The LA wildfires devastated tens of thousands of homes, and mobilized pollutants across the greater Los Angeles Area in excess of healthy thresholds. Burning structures, especially older homes with lead based infrastructure, was the likely source of lead contamination.
We developed a novel modeling framework that integrates surface ocean circulation with aerosol chemistry to reconstruct the history of aerosol Fe deposition onto surface waters and evaluate whether episodic increases in Fe input stimulate phytoplankton blooms.