APECS is happy to nominate Tosca Ballerini to serve as a representative to the Southern Ocean Observing System Scientific Steering Commette (SOOS SSC). The SOOS has a circumpolar geographical domain and it spans a range of disciplines, including ocean physics, sea ice, ecology, marine biology, biogeochemistry and surface meteorology. The emphasis of the SOOS is on sustained observations, but models will make a significant contribution to the SOOS by informing the design of the observing system and guiding the interpretation and interpolation of sparse measurements. The first meeting of the SOOS SSC will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah, on the 18-19th February, prior to the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2012.
Tosca is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO) in Marseille, France. Prior to moving to MIO she worked at the Center of Coastal Physical Oceanography (CCPO), in Norfolk, VA, developing food web models for the Antarctic Peninsula using data collected by the US SO GLOBEC program. Her research interests include marine food webs, their linkages with biogeochemical cycles, and the effects of climate change and fisheries on Southern Ocean and Mediterranean marine ecosystems. Tosca is also interested in Marine policy. Tosca received a PhD in Polar Biology from the University of Siena, Italy, with a thesis on the population dynamics of the Adélie penguin and participated in the XX Italian Antarctic Expedition as a biologist.
Tosca has served on the APECS Council since 2009 and is one of the two APECS council co-chairs for 2011-2012. Tosca is excited to represent APECS in the SOOS and she looks forward to communicate the developments of the SOOS to the large (more than 3000 members) APECS community and to encourage the participation of early carrier scientists worldwide in the activities of the SOOS.
As the SOOS is an initiative with a long-term perspective, it is gratifying to see that APECS and early career researchers are being included in the planning and development process, and APECS looks forward to this attitude continuing in its formulation, development, and implementation!
