Victoria's Wastewater:

Land-Based Treatment ... or Something Better

Speaker Biography

Sophia Johannessen, PhD

Sophia Johannessen obtained a B.Sc., (Hon.) in Geology and Oceanography from the University of British Columbia in 1994 and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from Dalhousie University in 2000. Dr. Johannessen studies climate change, carbon cycling and contaminants, from photochemical processes at the top of the ocean to the burial and reworking of contaminants at the bottom. Recent and ongoing projects include - the effects of climate change on the Strait of Georgia ; the effect of photochemical oxidation (burning of organic matter in seawater by sunlight) on the ability of phytoplankton blooms to draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; the distribution, sinking and burial of particles and organic carbon in the Strait of Georgia and mass balance budgets and historical trends of contaminants, including mercury, PCBs and PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers, mainly flame retardants). Dr. Johannessen uses marine geochemical tools, including sediment cores, sediment traps and a photochemical laboratory that simulates chemical reactions driven by sunlight at the surface of the ocean. She has worked in the Mid-Atlantic Bight, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and most recently in the Strait of Georgia.