About me

Espe Broullón
Postdoctoral Fellow in Physical Oceanography

I am an oceanographer using ocean observations with the aim of understanding how ocean dynamics shape biogeochemistry and phytoplankton in the ocean.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Physical Oceanography group at the University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, learning about mixing. Below, you can read more about my research.

Interests

  • Ocean mixing
  • Physical-biological interactions
  • Observational oceanography

Postdoctoral project

I am participating on the C-Streams project, under supervision of Prof. Alberto Naveira Garabato and following the advice of Bieito Fernández Castro and Louis Clément, among others. C-Streams addresses the role of the North Atlantic in the global carbon cycle as a contribution to one of the World Climate Research Programme Grand Challenges “Carbon Feedbacks in the Climate System”. Our task within this project is to understand how mixing processes modify the nutrients and carbon carried by the Gulf Stream as it enters the North Atlantic.

PhD thesis

Prior to this position, I completed my PhD in Oceanography at the University of Vigo, Spain. My PhD topic was related to thin layers of phytoplankton in a highly dynamic coastal upwelling system (Galician Rías, Iberian Peninsula), their characteristics, mechanisms of formation and ecological relevance. I also investigated how turbulence and stratification patterns are related to the extraordinary productivity in that region and their relationship with harmful algal blooms. You can check the presentation here.

During this period, I participated in a few cruises (REMEDIOS-TLP, ECOSUMA) collecting microstructure measurements, which sparked my interest in observing the ocean.

Schematic of the thin layers of phytoplankton dynamics in an upwelling bay. From Chapter 4. Available at http://hdl.handle.net/11093/7204

Additionally, throughout my thesis, I have visited different research centres, such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography (host: Peter JS Franks), the University of Liverpool (host: Jonathan Sharples) or NOC Southampton. Some of the contributions to my publications have come out of these insightful visits!