Research Interests

• Marine biogeochemical cycles and early diagenesis
• Methane in the marine environment: gas hydrates, cold vents, mud volcanoes
• Development of transport-reaction models
• Fluid & gas transport in marine sediments and their origin
• Environmental impacts of deep-sea mining
• Weathering of marine sediments
• Methane hydrates as unconventional energy resource
• CO₂ capture & storage (CCS) and climate change
• Microplastic pollution in the marine environment

Research Tools

• Numerical transport-reaction & thermodynamic models
• Porewater and sediment data (ship-based research expeditions)
• High-pressure lab experiments and spectroscopy (Raman, NMR)

Since 2005  Senior Scientist, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany

2003 – 2005 Visiting Scientist, Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

2001 – 2003 Feodor Lynen Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

2000 – 2001 Postdoc, GEOMAR Research Center, Kiel, Germany

1996 – 2000 PhD thesis, GEOMAR Research Center, Kiel, Germany: "Mathematical models of early diagenetic processes: Impacts on the biogeochemical environment of the deep-sea floor”

1994 – 1995  Diploma thesis, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany: "Analysis of nuclear quadrupole coupling and internal rotation of the complex aniline-methanol using Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy at a molecular beam"

1989 – 1994  Chemistry studies, Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany
 

Projects

2025-2029      MiningImpact 3 “Assessing the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining of polymetallic nodules and seafloor massive sulphides”

2024-2027      GEOSTOR 2 “Submarine carbon dioxide storage in geological formations of the German North Sea”

2022-2027      OceanICU “Improving Carbon Understanding”

2022-2025      Deep Rest “Conservation and restoration of marine ecosystems in the context of deep-sea mining”

2022-2023      Nodule Monitoring 2 “Assessing the impacts of polymetallic nodule mining on the deep-sea environment”

2021-2024      GEOSTOR “Submarine carbon dioxide storage in geological formations oft he German North Sea”

2021-2025      LABPLAS “Land-based solutions of plastics in the sea”

2020-2023      HOTMIC “Horizontal and vertical oceanic distribution, transport, and impact of microplastics”

2018-2022      MiningImpact 2 “Environmental risks and impacts of deep-sea mining”

2016-2020      STEMM-CCS “Strategies for environmental monitoring of marine carbon capture and storage”

2016-2018      BASEMAN “Ecological aspects of microplastics”

2015-2018      MiningImpact “Ecological aspects of deep-sea mining”

2014-2017      SUGAR III “Submarine gas hydrate reservoirs” => link: sugar-projekt.de

2014-2017      Helmholtz-CAS Joint Research Group "Characterization and Energy Production Strategies of Gas Hydrate Deposits in the Northern South China Sea" (Partners: GIEC-CAS, GFZ)

2013-2016      MIDAS “Managing Impacts of Deep-Sea Resource Exploitation”

2011-2014      SUGAR II “Submarine gas hydrate resources”

2011-2014      ECO2 “Sub-seabed CO₂ Storage: Impact on Marine Ecosystems”

2011-2012      SPUX “Spatial methane flux quantification from a pockmark area in the Black Sea“

2008-2011      SUGAR “Submarine gas hydrate resources”

2007-2010      CLATHRAT “Natural gas production from methane hydrates by CO₂ injection into marine sediments”

2008-2010      SUMSUN “Natural hydrothermal CO₂ seepage in the northern Pacific as case study for marine CO₂ sequestration”

Research cruises