Marine Scotland Science: directory

Dr Bee Berx

Environment Monitoring and Assessment Programme
Oceanography Group
Physical Oceanographer / MSS Climate Change Lead

E-mail: Barbara.Berx@gov.scot

Marine Scotland Science, Marine Laboratory, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen, AB11 9DB, UK

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Details of specialism

I am a physical oceanographer interested in the ocean circulation of the sub-polar North Atlantic and European continental shelf, and its role in the global climate. 

I currently also have a role as the MSS Climate Change lead, with an interest in the impacts of climate change on the marine environment, the climate adaptation required to address these, and how activities in the marine environment could support the transition to a net zero society.

Within the broad topic area my particular focuses currently include:

• observing currents and water properties, with a particular focus on those originating from the Atlantic Ocean which enter the northern North Sea and their exchange with the Nordic Seas in the Faroe-Shetland Channel 
• understanding how circulation and water properties change because of natural variability and because of human-induced climate change
• how variability in the physical marine environment influences the wider ecosystem

Main policy links

• shellfish aquaculture
• finfish aquaculture
• marine renewables licencing
• marine planning (science advice)
• fish and shellfish health advice

External committees and responsibilities

• forum convenor of the MASTS Marine Climate Change Forum
• member of the ICES Working Group on Oceanic Hydrography
• member of the Ocean Challenge editorial board
• invited reviewer for scientific journals
• University of Aberdeen – visiting lecturer

Papers of relevance

Moffat C, Baxter J, Berx B, Bosley K, Boulcott P, Cox M and others (Eds) (2020) Scotland's Marine Assessment 2020. Scottish Government.

Holliday NP, Bersch M, Berx B, Chafik L, Cunningham S, Florindo-López C and others (2020) Ocean circulation causes the largest freshening event for 120 years in eastern subpolar North Atlantic. Nature communications 11, 1-15.

Østerhus S, Woodgate R, Valdimarsson H, Turrell B, Steur LD, Quadfasel D and others (2019) Arctic Mediterranean exchanges: a consistent volume budget and trends in transports from two decades of observations. Ocean Science 15, 379-399.

Berx B, Hansen B, Østerhus S, Larsen KM, Sherwin T and Jochumsen K (2013) Combining in situ measurements and altimetry to estimate volume, heat and salt transport variability through the Faroe–Shetland Channel. Ocean Science 9, 639-654.

Lindstrom E, Gunn J, Fischer A, McCurdy A, Glover L and others (2012) A Framework for Ocean Observing. By the Task Team for an Integrated Framework for Sustained Ocean Observing. UNESCO 2012, IOC/INF-1284.

Details of linked research pages

Bee Berx’s Google Scholar profile