Dr Gemma Kulk is an expert in phytoplankton physiology and primary production. She leads novel research on the role of phytoplankton in the ocean carbon cycle using ocean-colour remote sensing, with a particular interest in long-term trends and the impact of climate change. She has contributed to the first remote-sensing-based budget of the ocean biological carbon pump and is currently leading research to establish a full ocean carbon budget from satellite observations through the European Space Agency-funded project “Satellite-based observations of Carbon in the Ocean: Pools, Fluxes and Exchanges’ (SCOPE). Gemma is a member of the working group on Primary Production of the International Ocean Colour Coordinating Group (IOCCG) and she is a contributing author the Aquatic Carbon Roadmap of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS).
In addition, Gemma co-develops new, innovative research on the environmental controls of waterborne diseases and has regional expertise on water quality in relation to human health in the southwest of India. She currently co-leads the Wellcome Trust-funded project “Water-Associated infectious Diseases in India’ (WADIM), that aims to reduce the burden of water-associated diseases in two locations in the north and southwest of India through the development of digital technologies. Gemma is a member of the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations (RINGO) thematic group on Public Health and Climate Change and she has co-authored policy briefs on the impact of climate change on water quality and human health that contribute to the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Gemma holds a PhD in Mathematics and Natural Sciences from the University of Groningen and before joining PML in 2018 she has worked in the Netherlands and overseas on various research projects. During this time, she has built over 10 years of interdisciplinary research experience combining laboratory experiments with field measurements in the North Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, the Artic Ocean and the western Antarctic Peninsula, studying the response or marine phytoplankton to changing environmental conditions.
Key Projects
- Satellite-based observations of Carbon in the Ocean: Pools, Fluxes and Exchanges (SCOPE), funded by the European Space Agency (2023-present)
- Water-Associated infectious Diseases in India: digital Management tools (WADIM), funded by the Wellcome True (2023-present)
- Biological Pump and Carbon Exchange Processes (BICEP), funded by the European Space Agency (2020-2024)
- Waterborne Infectious Diseases and Global Earth Observation in the Nearshore (WIDGEON), funded by the European Space Agency (2021-present)
- Simons Collaboration on Computational Biogeochemical Modelling of Marine Ecosystems (CBIOMES), funded by the Simons Foundation (2019-present)
- Primary production, Index of Climate Change in the Ocean: Long-term Observations (PICCOLO), Climate Change Initiative Fellowship funded by the European Space Agency (2018-2019)
Selected Publications
- Brewin, R.J.W., Sathyendranath, S., Kulk, G., Rio, M.H., Concha, J.A., Bell, T.G. et al. 2023. Ocean carbon from space: Current status and priorities for the next decade. Earth-Science Reviews 240:104386; doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104386
- Hegglin, M.I., Bastos, A., Bovensmann, H., Buchwitz, M., Fawcett, D., Ghent, D., Kulk, G. et al. 2022. Space-based Earth observations in support of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement. Frontiers in Environmental Science: Interdisciplinary Climate Studies 10:941490; doi:10.3389/fenvs.2022.941490.
- Kulk, G., George, G., Abdulaziz, A., Menon, N., Theenathayalan, V., Jayaram, C., Brewin, R.J.W., Sathyendranath, S. 2021. Effect of reduced anthropogenic activities on water quality in Lake Vembanad, India. Remote Sensing 13:1631; doi:10.3390/rs13091631
- Kulk, G., Platt, T., Dingle, J., Jackson, T., Jönsson, B., Bouman, H.A. et al. 2020. Primary production, an index of climate change in the ocean: Satellite-based estimates over two decades. Remote Sensing 12:826; doi:10.3390/rs12050826
- Sathyendranath, S., Abdulaziz, A., Menon, N., George, G., Evers-King, H., Kulk, G., Colwell, R., Jutla, A., Platt, T. 2020. Building Capacity and Resilience Against Diseases Transmitted via Water Under Climate Perturbations and Extreme Weathers Stress. In: Space Capacity Building in the XXI Century, Ferretti (ed.), Springer Nature Switzerland AG, p. 281-298. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-21938-3_24
- Kulk, G., Van de Poll, W.H., Buma, A.G.J. 2018. Photophysiology of nitrate limited phytoplankton communities in Kongsfjorden, Spitsbergen. Limnology and Oceanography, doi:10.1002/lno.10963.
- Van de Poll, W.H., Kulk, G., Timmermans, K.R., Brussaard, C.P.D., Van de Woerd, H.J., Kehoe, M.J., Mojica, K.D.A., Visser, R.J.W., Rozema, P.D., Buma, A.G.J. 2013. Phytoplankton chlorophyll-a biomass, composition, and productivity along a temperature and stratification gradient in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Biogeosciences 10: 4227-4240. doi: 10.5194/bg-10-4227-2013
- Kulk, G., De Vries, P., Van de Poll, W.H., Visser, R.J.W., Buma, A.G.J. 2012. Temperature-dependent growth and photophysiology of prokaryotic and eukaryotic oceanic picophytoplankton. Marine Ecology Progress Series 466: 43-55. doi: 10.3354/meps09898
- Alderkamp, A.C., Kulk, G., Buma, A.G.J., Visser, R.J.W., Van Dijken, G.L., Mills, M.M., Arrigo, K.R. 2012. The effect of iron limitation on the photophysiology of Phaeocystis antarctica (Prymnesiophyceae) and Fragilariopsis cylindrus (Bacillariophyceae) under dynamic irradiance. Journal of Phycology 47: 45-59. doi: 10.1111/j.1529-8817.2011.01098.x
- Kulk, G., Van de Poll, W.H., Visser, R.J.W., Buma, A.G.J. 2011. Distinct differences in photoacclimation potential between prokaryotic and eukaryotic oceanic phytoplankton. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 398: 63-72. doi: 10.1016/j.jembe.2010.12.011