Jacobs University Bremen: Prof. Dr. Laurenz Thomsen

Prof. Dr. Laurenz Thomsen

Professor of Geosciences
School of Engineering and Science
Geosciences and Astrophysics at Jacobs University

Street Address:
Campus Ring 1
28759 Bremen
Germany

Mailing Address:
P.O.Box 750 561
28725 Bremen
Germany

Telephone:    +49 421 200-3254

Fax:    +49 421 200-3229

E-Mail:    l.thomsen@jacobs-university.de

Office:    Research III, Room 107

University Education:

Education

1982-85	University of Heidelberg, undergraduate
1988-89	Institute for Oceanography, Kiel, graduate student
1989	Diplom in Biology at University of Kiel, Germany
1990-92	Research Affiliate at University of Kiel
1992	Doctor of Sciences (Dr. rer. nat.) at University of Kiel
1992-98	Research Associate in the Department of Environmental Geology, GEOMAR
1995	Guest scientist at the NIVA Institute, Oslo, Norway
1997	Guest scientist at the NIOZ Institute, Texel, Netherlands
1998	Habilitation at University of Kiel
1999-2001	Heisenberg fellow of the DFG at the School of Oceanography (University of Washington)
9 / 2001-	Jacobs University faculty
5 / 2002- 2006 2008	Affiliate associate Professor at the School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle Full professor at Jacobs University Bremen Full adjunct Professor of Biological Oceanography at the School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle

Research and Teaching Positions:

Teaching

1992-98	Lecturer in Biological Oceanography and Geochemistry for graduate students at Kiel University
2000-01	Visiting lecturer at the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington, undergraduate and graduate classes
2001 -	Teaching Geosciences at Jacobs University
2002 -	Teaching Benthos at the University of Washington Teaching Marine Geology at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen

Research

Since 1990 participation in many studies on particle and fluid dynamics at continental margins. Within several interdisciplinary national and international programs (DFG Sonderforschungsbereich 313), as Postdoc within the EU 0MEX program, as associate professor within the Heisenberg program of the DFG at the University of Washington, Seattle,since 2001 within the EU Eurostrataform and HERMES programs. I concentrate on fluxes of particulate matter within the lowermost water column, the benthic boundary layer. The work supported the discovery that organic carbon is gradually transported down- and alongslope and that the amount is often sufficient to balance sediment carbon mineralization rates. Additionally it became evident that the carbon degradation mainly takes place in the benthic boundary layer. New instrument system developments within the IRCCM-observatory program. Experimental work in OceanLab on animal-water interactions, particle behaviour and fluid dynamics in collaboration with the TU-HH. Theoretical work on aggregation in marine environments.

Member of the working group on "Subduction Gases" within the US NEPTUNE program. Participation in NEPTUNE Canada, the US MARS program and its European counterpart, the EU ESONET program. Currently working on studies for a better understanding of the different organic matter degradation processes in the water column with special emphasis on hydrodynamic conditions. Involvement in studies on risk assessment and monitoring offshore installations as coordinator of the CORAMM project, CO2 mitigation, sediment transport and pollutant transport in submarine canyons within the EU EUROSTRATAFORM and HERMES programs. Collaboration in an EU program on BBL experiments, the BIOFLOW program.

International Experience

1993 - 2000	Participant in the EU OMEX program with strong collaborative links to scientists in several EU institutes in Oceanography
1996 - 99	Participant in the EU ALIPOR program on deep sea instrument technology
1999 -	Participant in the US/Canadian NEPTUNE program
2002 -	Affiliate Associate Professor, School of Oceanography, Seattle
2002 -	PI in the EU EUROSTRATAFORM program
2002 -	PI in the EU ESONET program
2002 -	PI in the EU BIOFLOW program
2005 -	PI/WP leader in the EU HERMES program
2006 -	Full Professor at Jacobs University
2006 -	Coordinator of the CORAMM project
2007 -	PI/WP leader in the EU ESONET NoE program

Academic Publications:

Thomsen, L. (1991). Treatment and splitting of samples for bacteria and meiofauna biomass determinations by means of a semi-automatic image analysis system. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 71: 301-306.

Thomsen, L. and A.V. Altenbach (1993). Areal distribution of foraminiferal abundance and biomass in microhabitats around an inhabited tube of a marine Echiurid. Mar. Micropal., 20: 303-309.

Thomsen, L., G. Graf, M. Martens and E. Steen (1994). An instrument for sampling water from the bottom nepheloid layer. Contin. Shelf Res., 14: 871-882.

Thomsen, L. (1995). Monitoring physical, biogeochemical parameters at sea. Sea Techn. 36/7. 55-58.

Thomsen, L. and G. Graf (1995). Characteristics of suspended particulate matter in the benthic boundary layer of the continental margin of the western Barents Sea. Oceanol. Acta, 17: 597-607.

Thomsen, L., G. Graf, K. v. Juterzenka and U. Witte (1995). An in situ experiment to investigate the depletion ofseston above an interface feeder field on the continental slope of the western Barents Sea. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 123: 295-300.

Graf, G., S.A. Gerlach,.P. Linke, W. Queisser, A. Scheltz, L. Thomsen and U. Witte (1995). Benthic-pelagic coupling in the Greenland-Norwegian Sea and its effects on the geological record. Geol. Rundschau, 84: 49-58.

Thomsen, L. and W. Ritzrau (1996). Aggregate studies in the benthic boundary layer at a continental margin. J. Sea Res., 36: 143-146.

Thomsen, L., S. Jähmlich, G. Graf, M. Friedrichs, B. Springer and S. Wanner (1996). An instrument for aggregate studies in the benthic boundary layer. Mar. Geol., 135: 153-157.

Ritzrau, W. and L. Thomsen (1997). Spatial distribution of particle composition and microbial activity in the benthic boundary layer of the North East Water Polyna. J. Mar. Syst, 10: 415 - 428.

Ritzrau, W., L. Thomsen, R. Lara and G. Graf (1997). Enhanced microbial utilization of dissolved amino acids indicates rapid modification of organic matter in the benthic boundary layer. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser., 156: 43-50.

Thomsen, L. and E. Flach (1997). Mesocosm observations of fluxes of particulate matter within the benthic boundary layer. J. Sea Res., 37: 67-79.

Thomsen, L. (1998). Processes in the Benthic Boundary Layer at continental margins and their implication for the benthic carbon cycle. J. Sea. Res., 41: 73-86.

Thomsen, L. and S. Jähmlich (1998). The modification of particulate matter and urea above a benthic sandy silt community in the Baltic. Hydrobiologia, 375/376: 353-359.

Thomsen, L. and T.C. v. Weering (1998). Spatial and temporal variability of particulate matter in the benthic boundary layer at the North East Atlantic Continental Margin (Goban Spur). Prog. Oceanogr., 42: 61-76.

Weering, T.C.E., I.N. McCave, H. de Stigter, I. Hall and L. Thomsen (1998). Recent sediments, sediment accumulation, and carbon burial at Goban Spur, NE Atlantic continental margin. Prog. Oceanogr., 42: 76-92.

Flach, E., M. Lavaye, H. de Stigter, H. and L. Thomsen (1998). Feeding types and particle transport at Goban Spur, Celtic Sea. Prog. Oceanogr., 42: 209-231.

Flach, E. and L. Thomsen (1998). Do physical and chemical factors structure the macrobenthic community at the continental slope in the NE Atlantic ? Hydrobiologia, 375/376: 265-285.

Jähmlich , S., L. Thomsen and G. Graf (1998). Factors controlling aggregate formation in the BBL of the Mecklenburg Bight (western Baltic Sea). J. Sea Res., 41: 245-254.

Thomsen, L. and I.N. McCave (2000). Aggregation processes in the benthic boundary layer at the Celtic Sea Continental Margin. Deep-Sea Res. I, 47: 1389-1404.

Thomsen, L. and G. Gust (2000). Sediment stability and characteristics of resuspended aggregates of the western European continental margin. Deep-Sea Res. I, 47: 1881-1897

Weering, T.C.E., L. Thomsen, J. Heerwarden, B. Koster and T. Viergutz (2000). A seabed lander and new techniques for long term in-situ study of deep sea near bed dynamics. Sea Technol.. 2000/2: 17-27.

Reimers, C., R. Jahnke and L. Thomsen (2000). In situ sampling in the benthic boundary layer, in The Benthic Boundary Layer: Transport Processes and Biogeochemistry (Boudreau, B.P. and Jørgensen, B.B., eds.), pp. 245-268. Oxford University Press, New York, 404p.

Davies, A.M., Xing, J., Hall, P., Huthnance, J.M., and Thomsen, L. (2002) Models of near-bed dynamics and sediment movement at the Iberian margin. Prog. Oceanogr. 54: 373-397.

Heip,C., de Wilde, P., Duineveld, G., Flach, E., Graf, G., Lavalaye, M., Pfannkuche, O., Soetaert, K., Soldwedel, T., Thomsen, L. and U. Vanaverbeke U. (2001). The carbon and particle requirements of benthic communities a long Goban Spur transect, a sysnthesis. Deep Ses Res. II/48: 3223-3243.

Huthnance, J.D. Humphery, P.J. Knight, L. Thomsen and M. White (2002) Near-bed turbulence measurements, stress estimates and sediment mobility at the continental shelf edge. Prog. Oceanogr. 54, 171-194

McCave, I.N., Antia, A., von Bodungen, B., Chou, L., Dehairs, F., Hall, I.R., Lampitt, R.S., Peinert, R., Thomsen, L., de Striter, H., van Weering, T.C.E. and R. Wollast (2001). Sources, Distribution, composition and flux of suspended particulate material on the European Margin 47 - 50 N: a synthesis of results from the OMEX I program. Deep Ses Res. II/48.

Thomsen, L. and van Weering, T. (2001). Sedimenttransport, distribution pattern of sedimentological properties and biological communities. Sedimentation in the Norwegian Sea (Schäfer, Thiede, Schlüter and Ritzrau: Ed.) Springer, Heidelberg.

Thomsen, L., van Weeringm T., and Gust, G. (2002). Benthic boundary layer characteristics at the Iberian Continental Margin Prog. Oceanogr. 54, 315-329.

Thomsen, L. (2002). The benthic boundary layer, in Berger, Wefer, ed.: Ocean Margin Systems, Springer:pp 143 - 155

Thomsen, L., van Weering, T., Blondel, P., Lampitt,, R., Lamy, F., McCave, N., Hebbeln, D., McPhail, S., Mienert, J., Neves, R., díOzouville, L., Ristow, D., Waldmann, C.H. and Wollast, R. (2002). Margin building- regulating processes, in Berger, Wefer, ed.: Ocean Margin Systems, Springer: pp 195-203.

van Weering, T., Thomsen, L., Hall, I., McCave, I.N. Antia, A., de Stigter, H. and Graf, G. (2001). Particle fluxes in the BNL at Goban Spur, Celtic Sea. Deep Ses Res. . II/48: 3191-3221.

Thomsen, L. (2004). Organic rich aggregates: formation, transport behavior, and biochemical composition. In: Flocculation in Natural and Engineered Environmental Systems, Droppo, I. et al. (Eds.) , 143-154.

Priede, M., Thomsen, L. et al. (2004). ESONET- European Sea Floor Observatory Network Proceedings Oceans, IEEE, 2155-2163 48: 3191-3221.

Karpen, V., Thomsen, L., and Suess, E. (2004). A new `schlieren' technique application for fluid flow visualization at cold seep sites. Marine Geology 204(1-2), pp. 145-159

Thomsen, L. (2005). Kontinentalränder: in Hempel et al., Springer Verlag: Biologie der Ozeane, in press.

Karpen, V., Thomsen, L., and Suess, E.(2006). Groundwater discharges in the Baltic Sea: survey and quantification using a schlieren technique application. Geofluids, 6, 1-10

R. García, K. A. Koho, H. C. De Stigter, E. Epping, E. Koning, L. Thomsen

(2007). 'Distribution of meiobenthos in the Nazaré canyon and adjacent slope (western Iberian Margin) in relation to sedimentary composition', Marine Ecology Progress Series 340: 207-220

V. Karpen, T. Viergutz, L.Thomsen (2007). Baltic Observatory for Oceanographic Monitoring, Sea Technology, July 2007, 18-20.

P. de Jesus Mendes, L. Thomsen, B. Holscher, H. C. de Stigter, G. Gust (2007) Pressure effects on the biological degradation of organo-mineral aggregates in Submarine Canyons, Marine Geology (246) 2-4 pp.165-175

P. A. de Jesus Mendes, I. Maier, L. Thomsen (2007) Effect of physical variables on particle critical erosion shear stress: hydrostatic pressure, slope and changes in water density, Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science (75) 3 pp. 317-326

H. C. de Stigter, W. Boer, P. A. de Jesus Mendes, C. C. Jesus, L. Thomsen, G. D. van den Bergh, T. C.E. van Weering, (2007) Recent sediment transport and deposition in the Nazaré Canyon, Portuguese continental margin. Marine Geology (246) 2-4 pp.144-164

R. García, D. Van Oevelen, K. Soetaert, L. Thomsen, H. C. De Stigter, E.

Epping (2008). Deposition rates, mixing intensity and organic content in two contrasting submarine canyons, Progress in Oceanography, 76, 192-215

R. García, L. Thomsen, (2008) Bioavailable organic matter in surface sediments of the Nazaré canyon and adjacent slope (Western Iberian Margin)

Journal of Marine Systems, 74, 1-2, 44-59

V. Gunn and L. Thomsen (2009) The next generation: providing inspiration and training for the marine scientists of the future. Oceanography 22 (1), 166-176

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