Souha El Mousadik

Souha El Mousadik is a PhD candidate whose research explores the characteristics and hydrodynamics of deep seabed sediment with particular focus on the sediment plumes generated by deep-sea mining. As the demand for mineral resources from seabed mining continues to increase, Souha’s work provides critical new knowledge and tools that can further our understanding of its environmental impacts and inform regulations. Through her MathWorks Fellowship, Souha is developing ground-breaking instrumentation to characterize suspended sediment properties in-situ at abyssal depths of over 6000m. In field trials, the sensor enabled in situ monitoring of sediment properties at 4500m. Souha is advancing the sensor to measure both particle size distribution and settling velocity distribution. MATLAB tools, including the Image Processing Toolbox and PIVlab, have been foundational to this work. Going forward, Souha will utilize MATLAB to develop new particle tracking tools and on-board data analysis scripts for up- coming sea trials. In addition to its potential to inform deep-sea mining, Souha’s work holds the promise of shining light on other areas of abyssal ocean science, including studies of microscopic life, microplastics, and particulate organic carbon for innovation in ocean carbon capture technology.