Dr Helen Powley joined PML as a modeller in June 2018. She is interested in developing and using models to understand how environmental change may influence the marine ecosystem. She is particularly interested in understanding how climate change processes and anthropogenic change, for example through increased nutrient inputs into the ocean, may influence the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients.
Helen completed her PhD in Earth Sciences within the Ecohydrology Research Group at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Her research focused on modelling the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus and nitrogen in the Mediterranean Sea. Her work helped explain the unique features of the Mediterranean Sea such as low inorganic nutrient concentrations, and the unusually high deep water NO3:PO4 ratio. In addition she investigated how anthropogenic nutrient inputs between 1950 and 2030, and circulation from internal variability and climate change, will affect the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus and nitrogen within the sea.
At PML, Helen is currently working with GOTM-ERSEM on creating new 1D modelling setups at various locations across the UK as well as improving the river forcing into 3D models.
Selected Publications
- Powley, H.R., Krom, M.D., Van Cappellen, P. (2018). Phosphorus and nitrogen trajectories in the Mediterranean Sea (1950-2030): Understanding basin-wide anthropogenic nutrient enrichment. Progress in Oceanography, 162, 257-270, doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2018.03.003
- Powley H.R., Krom, M.D., Van Cappellen, P. (2017). Understanding the unique biogeochemistry of the Mediterrnaean Sea: Insights from a coupled phosphorus and nitrogen model. Global Biogeochemcial Cycles. 31, 1010-1031. doi:10.1002/2016GB005583
- Powley, H.R., Krom, M.D., Van Cappellen, P. (2016) Circulation and oxygen cycling in the Mediterranean Sea: Sensitivity to future climate change. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 121, 8230-8247. doi:10.1002/2016JC012224.
- Powley, H.R., Dürr, H.H, Lima, A.T., Krom, M.D, Van Cappellen, P. (2016) Direct Discharges of domestic wastewater are major source of phosphorus and nitrogen to the Mediterranean Sea. Environmental Science and Technology. 50, 8722-8730, doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b01742.
- Maavara, T., Parsons, C.T., Ridenour, C., Stojanovic, S., Dürr, H.H., Powley, H.R., Van Cappellen P.(2015) Global phosphorus retention by river damming. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 112, 15603-15608, doi:10.1073/pnas.1511797112.
- Van Cappellen, P., Powley, H.R., Emeis, K.-C., Krom, M.D., (2014) A biogeochemical model for phosphorus and nitrogen cycling in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Part 1. Model development, initialization and sensitivity. Journal of Marine Systems, 139, 460-471, doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2014.08.016