Full Title: The effect of oil spills on the marine environment and coastal population – a quantitative interdisciplinary approach
Presented by: Dr Igal Berenshtein, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), the University of Miami.
Organised by: Ocean Remote Sensing TC and Italy Chapter
How to join
Date and Time: 3 feb 2022, 4pm CET.
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/gyr-osqv-wkq
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PIN: 456 742 465#
The registered webinar will be also available on the IEEE YouTube channel
Abstract
The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the Mediterranean Sea are semi-enclosed productive marine systems which harbor a great wealth of natural resources, biodiversity, and habitats. As such, they support vast coastal communities mainly through fisheries and tourism industries. At the same time, these systems are under immense environmental and anthropogenic pressures, e.g., oil-spills and harmful algal blooms. In this webinar I will talk about the dynamics of marine pollution in time and space, and its effects on the marine environment and coastal communities. Specifically, I will present quantitative spatiotemporally explicit frameworks, linking between visible oil slicks and in-situ toxic oil concentrations for the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, as well as quantitative frameworks linking between possible oil spills, fisheries closures, fishing revenue loss, and social vulnerability. In the current era of rapid deterioration of our marine ecosystems, such research can increase the understanding of marine ecosystems, and may support effective management of marine resources.
About the Speaker
Dr. Berenshtein is a quantitative marine ecologist, studying complex interactions in the ocean. In his research, he combines advanced modelling techniques, data science, and empirical field and laboratory studies to tackle fundamental scientific and environmental questions concerning the marine environment. Dr. Berenshtein completed his PhD at the Ben Gurion university (Israel) in 2016, working on larval orientation and biophysical models of larval dispersal. He completed his first post-doctoral position at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), the University of Miami (2017-2019). During this time, Dr. Berenshtein
lead research, which revealed that the Gulf of Mexico’s (GoM) Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, was substantially larger than previously estimated and consisted of vast toxic regions that were previously not considered to be contaminated. During his second post-doctoral position (2019-2021) at the Cooperative Institute for Marine & Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS), the University of Miami, Dr. Berenshtein lead the development and calibration of an ecosystem model of the GoM, examining the effects of forage fish harvest on their predators.
Dr. Berenshtein is expected to start an Assistant professorship position at the Department of Marine Biology, at the University of Haifa, Israel, this summer (2022).