Sarah Le Besque

Academic Profile

I completed my integrated masters in Oceanography with study abroad, from the University of Southampton, in 2021. Throughout my undergrad, I was always fascinated by biogeochemical cycles and the physical factors that control these cycles. During my third year, I studied for a semester at the University of Bergen in Norway, studying physical climatology and chemical oceanography. For my masters project, I worked with Professor Mark Moore to investigate how meteorological forcing influences the phytoplankton spring bloom in the Western channel, using the S2P3 v8.0 model.

Current Research

The remote biomes of the Southern Ocean are highly under-sampled and our understanding of how the community structure and physiology of phytoplankton evolves over the seasonal cycle is poorly known. This weakens our ability to accurately predict how the productivity of the Southern Ocean will respond under climate change. My current research is focusing on using in situ observations and remote sensing to understand how phytoplankton community structure changes seasonally in the Southern Ocean, particularly under High Nutrient, Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) conditions, and which environmental factors drive these changes. The primary factors I will focus on are nutrient availability, water-column stratification, and light within the surface mixed layer.

Publications

Publications to follow.