Dirk Koopmans

My research focuses on the aquatic eddy covariance technique. The technique uses high frequency measurements of turbulence to quantify the vertical transport of dissolved constituents (like oxygen and pH). This allows us to observe ecosystem processes from minute-to-minute. These measurements improve our understanding of how ecosystems grow and how they will respond to environmental change.

During postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, I was the science lead on the development of technology to detect seafloor sources of carbon dioxide for the Horizon 2020 Project STEMM-CCS. We demonstrated that the eddy covariance technique is, in effect, an amplifier for seafloor processes. pH eddy covariance had the highest sensitivity of any geochemical technique, and was even able to detect and quantify naturally-occurring seafloor carbon dioxide production.

By coupling pH and oxygen eddy covariance, we have introduced a new monitoring capability for coastal and deep seafloor ecosystems like seagrasses, coral, shellfish, kelp, and others: observing the net calcification of all of the biota within them from minute-to-minute, as it occurs (Koopmans et al., 2026-accepted, ACS ES&T: Water). 

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