VNIRO employee successfully defended her PhD dissertation
25 December 2024

VNIRO employee successfully defended her PhD dissertation

On December 19, Lomonosov Moscow State University hosted the defense of a dissertation for the degree of candidate of geographical sciences by Alexandra Sumkina, senior specialist of the Department of Climate Dynamics and Aquatic Ecosystems of the Department of Aquatic Bioresources and Their Environment of the State Research Center of the Russian Federation “All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography” (VNIRO).
 
The topic of the dissertation research: “The relationship between modern changes in the ice coverage of the Barents Sea, the hydrological structure of waters and the processes of interaction between the sea and the atmosphere”.
 
In recent decades, the Barents Sea has seen a significant decrease in ice coverage in all seasons and an increase in the inflow of water from the Atlantic, as well as an increase in the duration of the ice-free season. According to the results obtained, since 2003, there has been a steady shift in the timing of seasonal ice clearance to earlier dates. The aim of the work was to quantitatively assess the relative contributions of processes at the sea-atmosphere boundary and in the water column to the seasonal and interannual variability of the thermohaline parameters of the upper quasi-homogeneous layer. The thermohaline parameters of the upper quasi-homogeneous layer directly determine the intra-annual and interannual dynamics of ice cover in different areas of the Barents Sea. Stable positive trends of varying intensity are observed for the temperature and salinity of the upper quasi-homogeneous layer. The observed increase in the average temperature of the Barents Sea waters is provided by the advective heat supply through the western boundary of the sea, not compensated by heat loss from the sea surface in the cold season.
 
We sincerely congratulate Alexandra on her successful defense and wish her further achievements in scientific work!
 
Press service of VNIRO