Internships

Farah Azmi ’24

Major

Geosciences

Project Title

Observing Ocean Ecosystems From Autonomous Floats

Presentation Link

View Farah's Presentation

I studied phytoplankton community composition in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. I studied differences in community composition between the northern and southern regions of the polar front by using the program MATLAB to analyze biogeochemical float data. There has been some previous work done on phytoplankton growth from a physical perspective, and on phytoplankton community composition from a biological perspective, but there has not been a lot of work done to connect the two pespectives. My project helped to bridge the gap between physical and biological processes and identified an area that should be further explored. Understanding the differences in community composition between these regions helps us to improve phytoplankton growth models, which subsequently helps us to better understand the global carbon cycle. My coding and research skills drastically improved throughout the eight weeks that I worked on this project. I also had the opportunity to meet many wonderful scientists at Scripps who inspired and motivated me to continue doing work in oceanography and climate science.