Oceanography, Modelling & Environmental Engineering

Current research

M.Phil. in Oceanography

A statistical funnel-based approach to assess spatial contributions to uncertainty in organic carbon flux attenuation.

In my thesis I developed a method to calculate sediment trap's statistical funnels considering uncertainties in ocean currents. From my statistical funnel study, I also developped a novel method to estimate the contributions of spatial variability in the traps’ catchment areas to the uncertainty in Martin’s “b-value” (which is the POC flux attenuation coefficient). Furthermore, I developed a method to spatially adjust Martin's b-value. Finally, I presented a case study showing that spatial variability can contribute up to 25% in the uncertainty in a b-value obtained from POC flux observation during the December 2017 COMICS I field campaign, near South Georgia.

Supervisors: Stephanie Henson, Filipa Carvalho, Nathan Briggs and Anna Hickman

Part of the GOCART project.

Education

  • 2017-2018

    M.Sc. Oceanography

    University of Southampton
    Southampton, United Kingdom

    Selected modules:
    Large Scale Ocean Processes, Biochemical Cycles in the Earth System, Climate Dynamics, Ecological Modelling, Global Ocean Carbon Cycle, Ocean acidification and Climate Change, Introduction to Biological, Chemical, Geological and Physical Oceanography

  • 2014-2017

    B.Eng. Environmental Engineering

    Major: Water Resource Management
    Minor: Sustainability
    Metropolia AMK
    Vantaa, Finland

    Selected topics:
    Envirometrics, Environmental Modelling, Design of Experiment, R, MatLab, water analysis, sustainability, basics of climate change, environmental monitoring and management.

  • 2006-2012

    Masters of Fine Arts

    Major: New Media Art
    Aix-en-Provence School of Art
    Aix-en-Provence, France

    Selected topics:
    Art and technology, digital identity and privacy, Java, C++, Python, PHP, mySQL, HTML5, Arduino, Processing, OpenFrameworks, OpenCV.

  • 2009-2010

    Interaction Design

    CIID (Guest student)
    Copenhagen, Denmark

    Selected topics:
    Service design, user experience, rapid prototyping, user centered design, user interfaces (both graphical and tangible)

  • 2005-2006

    Science for Engineering

    Université Paul Cezanne
    Marseille, France

    Selected topics:
    Basics of electronics (both analog and digital), programming in C, mechanics and calculus.

Skills

Scientific

Oceanography:
Biogeochemical cycles;
Large scale ocean processes;
Chemical oceanography;
Physical oceanography;
Biological oceanography (basic).

Environmental Engineering:
Life-cycle assessment;
Water treatment systems;
Municipal water systems;
Waste management;
Pollution Monitoring and Control;
Renewable energy;
Environmental and chemical safety;
Environmental management.

Applied Mathematics:
Envirometrics;
Chemometrics;
Principal Component Analysis;
Multiple Linear Regression;
Design of experiment;
Central Composite Design;
Statistical modelling;
Statistical analysis;
Exploratory statistics;
Life-cycle assessment;
Matrix algebra;
Systems of linear equations;
Multivariate calculus (intermediary)
Fourier Transform (basic).

Programming

Languages:
R; Matlab; Octave; Python;
Java; Fortran; C; C++; Lua; F# (basics).

Web development:
Javascript; PHP; XML; HTML5;
Bootstrap; JQuery; AJAX; Shiny R (basic);
MySQL/SQL/PostgreSQL.

Libraries:
Leaflet; Plotly.js;
Arduino; Processing; OpenFrameworks;
OpenKinect; TUIO library; Leap Motion;
OpenCV (basics); OpenGL (basics).

Document preparation:
Markdown; R-Markdown, LaTex (basic).

GIS:
PostGIS; QGIS; ArcGIS.

Data formats:
NetCDF; XML; JSON; CSV.

Other

Technology:
Basic electronics; Arduino; Raspberry PI; Linux, Mac OS, Windows.

Software:
Solidworks; Matlab; Simulink; RStudio; Excel; Word; InDesign; Illustrator; Photoshop.

Languages (CEFR):
French (native); Portuguese (native);
English (C2); Spanish (B1); Finnish (A2.2).

Creative:
Interaction Design; New Media Art; User Experience; Service Design; Fast Prototyping.

Personal interests

Art and design

Particularly interested in the Minimalism movement, with artists such as Sol LeWitt, Dan Falvin and Donald Judd.
New media art movements that explore the aesthetics of new technologies fascinate me. References in this domain are Ryoji Ikeda, John Maeda and Julien V3ga.

Hobbies

Scuba diving - NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver (equivalent CMAS 2*) + CMAS rescue diver,
mostly interested on biology and small animals (such as nudibranchs);
Concert photography, capturing the atmosphere of live shows in different venues;
Running, currently training for a marathon.

Contact

benoit.espinola[at]soton.ac.uk