Israela Musan

 

Visiting Researcher

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Israela.Musan[at]mail[dot]huji[dot]ac[dot]il

Research interests: Oxygen dual and triple stable isotope systems as tracers for deep ocean oceanography

 

Biography

I grew up in Tel-Aviv, Israel, and received a Master’s degree and a PhD in Oceanography
from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since my bachelor’s degree, my academic life has
involved significant work at sea, including two long research cruises, and I am inclined to
build a professional career that involves a considerable amount of fieldwork and ship-based
research. I visited Adina in her UCSC lab during February-March, 2020 and November-
December, 2022. During my stay I conducted experiments and investigated the respiratory
isotope effects in the extremely low-oxygen environment of the Oxygen Minimum Zone
(OMZ) of the east Pacific.

Research

My research establishes the use of triple oxygen isotope as an oceanographic tracer in marine
biogeochemistry and chemical oceanography. My work comprised of collecting and
interpreting new and novel data on the dual (δ18O), and triple isotope composition of
dissolved O2 in the deep ocean. For the data collection, I participated in two long (about 2
months each) sea-going expeditions: crossing the North Atlantic (the DY040, on the nominal
A05 line), and in the Southern Ocean (LMG1701, LTER-PALMER grid). Then, combined
with a one-dimensional physical-biogeochemical model, I used the triple oxygen isotopes
(TOI) measurements, first measurements for the deep ocean, as a proxy for climatic changes
in the regions of deep-water formation in the northern Atlantic Ocean.
Other facets of my work involved investigating the respiratory isotope effect in a dark
and cold ocean-like environments. I used δ18O measurements to draw important conclusions
regarding how O2 is consumed in the deep water of marine systems, and the relative
contribution of respiration by organisms, sediments and particles to the overall respiration
and its isotope effect.