PRESENTER: Dr. Lohitzune Solabarrieta 

   INSTITUTE: KAUST

   DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 2018

   TIME: 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

   LOCATION: Auditorium between Bldg 2 & 3 - Level 0

ABSTRACT:

In 2013, Saudi Aramco and KAUST jointly established the Saudi Aramco-KAUST Center for Marine Environmental Observations (SAKMEO). Since 2015, SAKMEO installed two HF radar networks in the West Saudi Arabia coast, and a third system will be deployed during 2018.Each system is composed by two CODAR Seasonde HF radar sites, to monitor hourly surface currents in the Red Sea. This new, highly resolved spatio-temporal dataset is providing an invaluable dataset to study and explore different spatio-temporal scale circulation and also to examine the interaction of the physical processes with the biogeochemical and ecological processes in the Red Sea.HF Radar data can also be used to monitor surface waters contaminated with oil spill. Particle dispersion models advected by HF Radar data can estimate the areas that will be reached by the contaminants in the near future. It also has a simultaneous and direct societal benefit to coastal operations that include search and rescue, contaminant dispersion and response, shipping and port management, fisheries management, etc.

BIO:

I am a civil engineer. I graduated in 2008, in the University of Cantabria, in Spain and I started my professional career in a civil engineering company in the same year. I combined the engineer position and Coastal and Harbor Engineer Master studies the next 2 years, due to my curiosity about coastal engineering and marine coastal processes. In 2010 I left the engineering job to start a PhD on Science and Technologies for the Coastal Management. During it, I focused on the characterization of the surface ocean processes, at different spatio-temporal scales using High Frequency Radar data in the Bay of Biscay. Since November 2016, I am a Postdoc in the IOP group in the RSRC and I am analyzing HF Radar data in the Red Sea to improve the knowledge of the ocean circulation processes of the Red Sea.