My passion in science started in high school. After attending a workshop about nature conservation, I realized that we need science to gather more knowledge to live sustainably with nature.
Being a scientist led me to visit many places that I never imagined before. Last year, I got a chance to join an interdisciplinary research expedition to the Southern Ocean, and stepped on the frozen land of Antarctica for the first time. Visiting Antarctica was a life changing experience for me, and we shared the story of our research expedition in the NIOZ blog, click here to read more.
I am a doctoral student at the Royal Netherland Institute for Sea research (NIOZ) and currently working on iron (Fe) chemical speciation in the polar regions. I sample seawater to measure the concentration and binding strength of organic iron-ligand complexes in different environmental circumstances, in both the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. Ligands help make elements and nutrients available for life to use in biological processes. Learn more about ligands by clicking here.
Organic iron-binding ligands are naturally occurring organic compounds, which have strong binding strength for iron. These ligands can either be derived from land, as degradation products of organisms are washed into the sea by rain or rivers, or they can be an organic compound synthesized in situ by marine microbes. Organic ligands control marine dissolved iron concentrations by stabilizing the iron in solution by forming iron-ligand-complexes. Almost 99% of dissolved iron in oxic (oxygen rich) seawater occurs as such organic complexes. Without this ligand stabilization, iron precipitates and is not available for marine microbes, especially phytoplankton, which is the base of food web in the ocean and relies on iron as a required nutrient.
Why do we study this in polar regions? The polar regions are undergoing rapid environmental changes due to global warming. These changes have caused alterations of many biogeochemical processes in the ocean, which eventually affects global iron biogeochemical cycling. As ligands play a vital role in determining dissolved-iron concentrations in seawater, the investigation of organic ligands is the key component to study the potential impact of warming polar region on iron cycling in the ocean, which in turn will have major impacts on the marine food webs.
My advice for young scientists: Although your contribution to the world seems to be unseen, what you are doing is having a big impact on the future of humankind.
Follow updates on the Antarctic expedition FePhyrus II and Indah!