The URI Graduate School of Oceanography welcomes its newest Assistant Professor, Dr. Brice Loose, to the faculty.

His research focuses on measuring gases in seawater, sea ice and glacial ice to better understand processes such as glacial melt and air-ice-ocean gas exchange. Brice’s research aims to enable a better understanding of how sea ice affects the polar ocean carbon cycle and how changes in sea ice will alter ocean carbon sequestration. Melting sea ice in summer exposes more ocean surface to absorb CO2, but many dynamic processes, including turbulent mixing, freshening surface water, release of CO2 trapped in sea ice, and even blooms arising from previously ice-bound algae, complicate the scenario.

Dr. Loose has conducted field research in the Amundsen and Weddell Seas in the Southern Ocean, and works with the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in New Hampshire.  He has also traveled to Senegal to study the effects of drought and hypersalination on mangrove estuaries in Western Africa.

A native of New Mexico, Brice became interested in the ocean while studying hydrology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received a master’s degree in civil engineering in Chile, focusing on urban water use and water quality. He earned his PhD in environmental geochemistry from Columbia University.