Scientist Profile: Neill Mackay

Since the first of our scientist profiles appeared, contributions have been coming thick and fast! Today, Neill Mackay, a second year PhD student at the University of East Anglia, tells us a bit about his research interests:

What is your involvement with the DIMES project?

Neill collecting water samples from the CTD rosette

DIMES is the fuel for my PhD. I'm interested in the diapycnal mixing in Drake Passage, and while on land I'm attempting to model the tracer (dye) evolution using an offline version of the numerical model MITgcm, comparing its outputs to the tracer measurements we are making on the cruises. Ultimately I'm hoping to come up with a model for the 3D distribution of diapycnal diffusivity (a quantity measuring mixing across ocean density surfaces) over the whole of the DIMES tracer region which could be applied to other parts of the ocean.

What do you personally want to get out of this cruise?

More tracer profiles! The more real data I have to compare with the model and make adjustments to it, the better the end product should be.

What do you enjoy about going to sea?

I'm well known amongst colleagues as the grumpy one when it comes to being at sea, so I'd have to say....going home!