Dr Juliane Wihsgott
Physical Oceanographer
Juliane Wihsgott is a physical oceanographer specialising in observational approaches to understanding how ocean physics shapes marine ecosystems and environmental change. With more than 15 years of seagoing experience, she is an expert in marine autonomy and advanced ocean observing systems. She designs and leads observational programmes that integrate autonomous and conventional observations to resolve coupled physical, biogeochemical and ecological processes across scales.
Her work spans environmental research, offshore energy, and other sectors where environmental intelligence is critical to decision-making. Combining marine autonomy, digital innovation and data-driven science, she develops scalable observing capabilities that generate the evidence needed for decision-making under uncertainty in complex marine environments.
Key Projects
2026 – present: Task Lead, OAeSIS (Horizon Europe)
Leading PML observational activities for UK fieldwork to develop process‑based understanding of ocean‑based climate interventions and their impact on air–sea gas exchange.
2025–present: Task Lead, C‑FLOOR (NERC Highlight Topic)
Leading AUV‑based observations to quantify how seabed trawling alters the carbonate system, including impacts on turbulent mixing and air–sea exchange.
2025–present: EQUIFy Work Package Lead (NERC–The Crown Estate; ECOFlow programme)
Leading research to quantify ecosystem‑scale impacts of floating offshore wind infrastructure and develop marine autonomy‑enabled approaches for environmental monitoring and assessment.
2024–2025: SyncED-Ocean Work Package Lead, (NERC-Met Office)
Actively shaped the development of marine digital twin capability through coordinated multi‑vehicle deployments and AI‑assisted command and control approaches.
2022–2025: PELAgIO co-Investigator (NERC–The Crown Estate; ECOWind programme)
Physics‑to‑ecosystem assessment of offshore wind farm impacts.
2018-2022: PDRA SOLSTICE-WIO (NERC-GCRF)
2013-2017: Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) – CANDYFLOSS, (NERC-Defra)
Selected Publications
- Wihsgott, JU, Palmer, MR, Poulton, AJ, Noyon, M, Roberts, M and Popova, E, Western Boundary Current-Driven Shelf Sea Deoxygenation on the Agulhas Bank. Frontiers in Marine Science, 13, p.1733489. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1733489
- Trivonova, N., Wihsgott, JU, & Scott, B (2025). Propagating uncertainty from physical and biogeochemical drivers through to top predators in dynamic Bayesian ecosystem models improves predictions. Environmental Informatics. 103510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2025.103510
- Berthou, S, Renshaw, R, Smyth, TJ, Tinker, J, Grist, JP, Wihsgott, JU, Jones, S, Inall, M, Nolan, G, Berx, B, Arnold, A, Blunn, LP, Castillo Sanchez, JM, Cotterill, D, Daly, E, Dow, G, Gómez, B, Fraser-Leonhardt, V, Hirschi, JJM, Lewis, HW, Mahmood, S and Worsfold, M. 2024. Exceptional atmospheric conditions in June 2023 generated a northwest European marine heatwave which contributed to breaking land temperature records. Communications Earth & Environment, 5 (1). 1-11. 10.1038/s43247-024-01413-8
- Isaksson, N, Scott, BE, Hunt, GL, Benninghaus, E, Declerck, M, Gormley, K, Harris, C, Sjöstrand, S, Trifonova, NI, Waggitt, JJ, Wihsgott, JU, Williams, C, Zampollo, A, Williamson, BJ and Browman, H. 2023. A paradigm for understanding whole ecosystem effects of offshore wind farms in shelf seas. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 10.1093/icesjms/fsad194
- Jardine, JE; Palmer, M; Mahaffey, C; Holt, J; Wakelin, SL; Düsterhus, A; Sharples, J; Wihsgott, J. 2023. Rain triggers seasonal stratification in a temperate shelf sea. Nature Communications 14, 3182.
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