Short BIO
Since the beginning of my studies, I have had a particular interest in the Ocean, especially in relation to the ongoing climate change. So that, I decided to study biology and, in particular, ecology by taking several classes on marine ecosystem. During the Master degree studies, I became more and more interested in oceanography and, in particular, on the biological-physical interactions that are at the base of the ocean ecosystem functioning. After completing my PhD at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) in 2016, I joined the marine optics and remote sensing group of the Laboratoire de Villefranche sur Mer (LOV) with a 2-years postdoc fellowship funded by Centre Nationales d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) working on future geostationary satellite missions for ocean observation and studies. After that, I returned back in Italy with a project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) aims to assess and understand the phytoplankton physiological response to the ocean warming using long-term satellite observations. Currently, I am a postdoc at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR)-CNR specifically about ocean carbon from space and in synergy with autonomous platforms.
Role in AtlantECO
Within AtlantECO, I am currently working on the computation and quantification of organic carbon exports from observation-based data in the Atlantic Ocean and related sub-basins (e.g. subtropical gyres, subpolar gyre). To this aim, I will use an extensive 2D/3D dataset of biogeochemical (e.g. particulate organic carbon) and physical variables (e.g. mixed layer depth). The analysis will cover aspects of the carbon pumps related to both physical and biogeochemical forcing. In details, the physical mechanisms considered will include the carbon transfers between the surface mixed layer and the ocean interior as modulated by ocean mesoscale dynamics (including the effects of surface mixing) and will focus on the estimation of water mass (and associated carbon) obduction/subduction. Moreover, I am also focusing to understand the impact of the ultra-oligotrophic waters expansions (regime shift) on the carbon exports in the Atlantic Ocean over the last decades.
I am mainly contributing to Work Package 7 strictly working with Dr. Bruno Buongiorno Nardelli, especially in Tasks 7.3 (subtasks 7.3.1: Modes of ecosystem variability; subtask 7.3.2: Key controls of ecosystem services “Carbon sequestration”) of AtlantECO (i.e. identify the response of basin-scale Atlantic ecosystems and related services to environmental variability).