Dr. Mirjam van der Mheen
ARC DECRA-Industry Fellow
In collaboration with marine ecologists, I am determining the carbon sequestration potential of kelp forests and their role in the global ocean carbon cycle. I determined the physical mechanisms that transport kelp detritus from the coastal ocean into the deep sea and demonstrated that their carbon sequestration potential may be larger than initially believed.
I am determining how kelp detritus is transported from Australia’s Great Southern Reef into the deep sea, as part of the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Discovery Project DP220100650. Together with a team of marine ecologists and geneticists, we will determine the Great Southern Reef’s contribution to global carbon sequestration and its potential to contribute to climate change mitigation.
Qualifications
2020: PhD Physical Oceanography, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
Thesis title: Transport and accumulation of buoyant marine plastic debris in the Indian Ocean
2012: MSc Meteorology, Physical Oceanography and Climate, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Thesis title: A complex network based early warning signal of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) collapse
2009: BSc Physics & Astronomy, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Thesis title: Minimal glacier model of Breidamerkurjök
Achievements and awards
2024: UWA Early-career Research Award, Oceans Graduate School
Travel grant: 2024 US-ClIVAR/OCB “Pathways connecting climate changes to the deep sea” workshop
2024: Australia-Indonesia Institute Grants Program from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, co-investigator
Travel grant: 2023 ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting
2021: Australia-India Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative Partnership from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, co-investigator
Scholarship: 2019-2020 UWA Ad Hoc Scholarship
2020: Top downloaded paper 2018-2019 in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
2018: Annual Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association conference: Highly recommended oral student presentation
2017: 3rd ICES/PICES Early Career Scientist Conference
Award: 2016 UWA Oceans Institute Student Video Competition 1st prize
Scholarship: 2016-2019 UWA CFH, and EA Jenkins Postgraduate Research
2016-2019: Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP)
Publications
M. van der Mheen and C. Pattiaratchi. Plastic debris beaching on two remote Indian Ocean islands originates from handful of Indonesian rivers, Environmental Research Letters, 19:10, (2024): https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad75aa
S. Starko, M. van der Mheen, A. Pessarrodona, G.V. Wood, K. Filbee-Dexter, C.J. Neufield, S. Montie, M.A. Coleman, T. Wernberg. Impacts of marine heatwaves in coastal ecosystems depend on local environmental conditions, Global Change Biology, 30:8, (2024): https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17469
M. van der Mheen, T. Wernberg, C. Pattiaratchi, A. Pessarrodona, I. Janekovic, T. Simpkins, R. Hovey, and K. Filbee-Dexter. Substantial kelp detritus exported beyond the continental shelf by dense shelf water transport, Scientific Reports, 14:839, (2024): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-51003-5
C. Pattiaratchi, M. van der Mheen, C. Schlundt, B.E. Narayanaswamy, A. Sura, S. Hajbane, R. White, N. Kumar, M. Fernandes, and S. Wijeratne. Plastics in the Indian Ocean – sources, fate, distribution and impacts, Ocean Science, 18, (2022): https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1-2022
M. van der Mheen, E. van Sebille, C. Pattiaratchi. Beaching patterns of plastic debris along the Indian Ocean rim, Ocean Science, 16, (2020): https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-1317-2020
M. van der Mheen, C. Pattiaratchi, S. Cosoli, and M. Wandres. Depth-dependent correction for wind-driven drift current in particle tracking applications, Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, (2020): https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00305
M. van der Mheen, C. Pattiaratchi, and E. van Sebille. Role of Indian Ocean dynamics on accumulation of buoyant debris, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124, (2019): https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014806
M. van der Mheen, H. A. Dijkstra, A. Gozolchiani, M. den Toom, Q. Feng, J. Kurths, and E. Hernandez‒Garcia. Interaction network based early warning indicators for the Atlantic MOC collapse, Geophysical Research Letters, 40, 2714–2719, (2013): https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50515
Other Publications
Technical Reports (selected list)
I. Koefoed, M. Kangas, Y. Hetzel, D. Gorman, A. Denham, R. Marks, A. Hesp, M. van der Mheen. Understanding the relationship between commercial prawn species population dynamics, fishing patterns and climate in the Shark Bay World Heritage area in WA, FRDC report 2019-015, (2024): https://www.frdc.com.au/project/2019-015
G. Jackson, D. Fairclough, E. Fisher, Y. Hetzel, M. van der Mheen, B. Scoulding, B. Gillanders, P. Reis-Santos, L.B. Beheregaray, J. Sandoval-Castillo, and M. Braccini. Where did the Snapper go? Determining factors influencing the recovery of Snapper stocks on the west coast of Australia, FRDC report 2018-050, (2023): https://www.frdc.com.au/project/2018-050
Popular science
A. Pessarrodona, K. Filbee-Dexter, M. van der Mheen, and T. Wernberg. Buried kelp: seaweed carried to the deep sea stores more carbon than we thought, The Conversation, (2024): https://theconversation.com/buried-kelp-seaweed-carried-to-the-deep-sea-stores-more-carbon-than-we-thought-228888
J.L. Rummer, B.J.M. Allen, C. Pattiaratchi, I.A. Bouyoucous, I. Yulianto, and M. van der Mheen. It might be the world’s biggest ocean, but the mighty Pacific is in peril, The Conversation, (2020): https://theconversation.com/it-might-be-the-worlds-biggest-ocean-but-the-mighty-pacific-is-in-peril-150745
M. van der Mheen, C. Pattiaratchi and E. van Sebille. There’s no garbage patch in the southern Indian Ocean, so where does all the rubbish go?, The Conversation, (2019): http://theconversation.com/theres-no-garbage-patch-in-the-southern-indian-ocean-so-where-does-all-the-rubbish-go-114439