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More InformationMichael Seidel &
Florence Schubotz
Dr. Florence Schubotz from the University of Bremen and Dr. Michael Seidel from the University of Oldenburg are both organic geochemists and collaborate in the Cluster of Excellence “Ocean Floor.” In the “We Are Connected” video series, they talk about their research within the cluster and explain why their next research expedition is heading to Baffin Bay.
Transcript
Question: When and how did you meet?
00:00 – 00:03
Florence Schubotz: We’ve known each other for over 20 years; we studied together in Oldenburg.
00:03 – 00:05
Michael Seidel: I knew right away: We’re a good fit both personally and professionally, this is going to be an exciting collaboration.
Question: What defines your colleague? As a person, as a colleague?
00:18 – 00:21
Florence Schubotz: I see Michael Seidel as a colleague who is very approachable and communicative, as well as inspiring and passionate about his research.
Question: What does your collaboration look like specifically?
00:25 –00:45
Michael Seidel: We’re both organic geochemists. Florence works more on the microbial side, while I focus more on the geochemical-analytical side. Our first joint project was about ten years ago, and it focused on natural oil seeps in the Gulf of Mexico. She asked me back then if I wanted to participate. We try to determine, in the case of petroleum systems or hydrothermal systems, what influence they have on the carbon cycle in the ocean.
00:49 – 01:16
Florence Schubotz: I tend to look at the particles, that is, the solid phase, while he looks at the dissolved organic matter. If I were to approach a topic solely with my own expertise, that would only provide a limited view of how these processes actually occur in the environment. By bringing in the expertise of my colleague Micha from Oldenburg, we are able to see not only which microorganisms are involved in converting organic matter, but also what happens to it.
Question: What might be your next work/research goal?
01:21 – 01:43
Michael Seidel: We conduct cutting-edge research at both locations. Even just the analytical infrastructure, the know-how, and the joint training of students and doctoral candidates – it’s perfect and just fits together wonderfully. This was proven during the first phase of the Cluster of Excellence. It’s continuing now and will, of course, be expanded even further in the future.
01:44 – 01:49
Florence Schubotz: In fact, we’re both already planning our next research expedition. This time, we’re heading to the Arctic – specifically to Baffin Bay, which lies between Greenland and Canada, where we suspect there are new oil spills.
01:55 – 01:57
Michael Seidel: We’ll be traveling there on the MERIAN research vessel. We’ll spend five weeks collecting samples.
02:01 –02:10
Florence Schubotz: It’s particularly interesting because the polar regions are affected by climate change more than other parts of the ocean. We’re investigating whether global warming has specific effects on the processes we want to study.