Delphine Lobelle is a post doctoral physical oceanographer in the Tracking of Plastic In Our Seas (TOPIOS) team since September 2019, working with Erik van Sebille. Currently, Delphine focuses on the effects of biofouling (biological growth) on the 3D transport of micro-plastic in the oceans globally. TOPIOS aims to estimate the distribution of plastic in the different reservoirs (e.g. the ocean floor, the beaches, the water column) since current estimations predict that only 1% of the plastic is found on the surface of the ocean. The research is based on tracking of the plastic in a Lagrangian framework (OceanParcels) running global simulations with NEMO and MEDUSA global circulation model hydrodynamic and primary productivity output.
Previously, Delphine was working on the effects of climate change on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at the University of Southampton (U.K.) during her PhD and the distribution of phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) during her MSc. During a summer project for her Biological Sciences BSc. at Warwick University (U.K) she was studying the short-term observational effects of biofouling on plastic (it is comforting to realise that these summer projects are sometimes very beneficial in the long run!)