Zouhair Lachkar

Zouhair is a research scientist (oberassistent) in the Environmental Physics group (UP) at the Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics (IBP), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), Switzerland. The main focus of his current research is on the coastal ocean. Three majors topics that he is strongly interested in are (i) the functioning and the natural variability of coastal ecosystems, (ii) the vulnerability of the future coastal ocean to various anthropogenic perturbations such as global warming, ocean acidification and hypoxia and (iii) the role of small scale processes and particularly mesoscale eddies in marine carbon cycling and biological productivity, and the impact this has on the global climate system.

Education

- Ph.D., Environmental Sciences, Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris, France, 2007
- Master of Science (DEA), Meteorology, Oceanography and Environment, Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France, 2002
- Meteorologist Diploma (WMO class I), National School of Meteorology (ENM), Toulouse, France, 2002
>> Please follow this link for the most recent version of his CV

Research Interests

Zouhair's interests cover a wide range of ocean research topics. The goal is to better understand how the small scale oceanic processes affect marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry, and the impact this has on Earth's climate system. Follow this link to find out more about his research activity

Selected Publications

• N. Gruber, C. Hauri, Z. Lachkar, D. Loher, T. L. Frölicher, G-K. Plattner: "Rapid Progression of Ocean Acidification in the California Current System", Science, doi:10.1126/science.1216773 , 2012.

• Z. Lachkar and N. Gruber.: "Response of biological production and air-sea CO2 fluxes to upwelling intensification in the California and Canary Current Systems", Journal of Marine Systems, doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.04.003, in press.

• Z. Lachkar and N. Gruber.: "A comparative study of biological production in eastern boundary upwelling systems using an artificial neural network", Biogeosciences, 9, 293-308, doi:10.5194/bg-9-293-2012, 2012.

• Z. Lachkar and N . Gruber.: "What controls biological production in coastal upwelling systems? Insights from a comparative modeling study", Biogeosciences, 8, 2961-2976, doi:10.5194/bg-8-2961-2011, 2011.

• N. Gruber, Z. Lachkar, H. Frenzel, P. Marchesiello, M. Münnich, J. C. McWilliams, T. Nagai, and G.-K. Plattner: "Eddy-induced reduction of biological production in eastern boundary upwelling systems", Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/ngeo1273, 2011.

• Z. Lachkar, J.C. Orr, J.C. Dutay, and P. Delecluse: “On the role of mesoscale eddies in the ventilation of Antarctic Intermediate Water”, Deep Sea Research I, vol 56, 6, 909-925, doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2009.01.013, 2009.

• Z. Lachkar, J.C. Orr, J.C. Dutay, and P. Delecluse: "Effect of mesoscale eddies on global ocean distributions of CFC-11, C-14, and CO2", Ocean Science, 3, 461-482, 2007.

>> Please follow this link to get the complete publication list

Teaching

Zouhair is involved in teaching the following [MSc/BSc] courses at ETH Zürich:

• Systems Analysis (led by Prof. Gruber) [2012-2013]

• Global Biogeochemical Cycles and Climate (led by Prof. Gruber) [2010-2012]

• Term paper in Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics (led by Prof. Gruber and the Faculty of IBP) [2009-2010]