Hello! I’m a postdoctoral researcher at Arizona State University currently studying marine carbon dioxide removal and carbon accounting. I was formerly at the US National Science Foundation in the Division of Ocean Sciences as a Knauss Fellow in ocean policy. I’m an alumna of the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at University of Washington, where I did my PhD with Dr. Tim Essington and Dr. Ray Hilborn. My name is pronounced Hel-AY-na Mic-MON-ah-gull and my pronouns are she/her.

By better understanding the ocean, the life it supports, and how we interact with it, we can enable better stewardship of the ocean. We as humans rely on the ocean for climate regulation, fisheries and other marine foods, the oxygen we breathe, recreation, transportation, shipping, energy, and more. Through informed decision-making processes that actively engage relevant partners and stakeholders, we can better ensure that these benefits can be accessed and enjoyed by future generations. I strive to do science and science communication that informs inclusive, science-based decision-making for the sustainable use of marine resources.

For my dissertation, I worked on describing and quantifying the carbon transport and sequestration associated with small but abundant fishes that live in the ocean’s twilight zone, and characterizing uncertainty in those estimates. These fishes play a role in sequestering carbon and moving energy up to higher levels in the marine food web. At the same time, there is interest in commercially harvesting these fishes to produce new sources of fishmeal. I was interested in working on the scientific basis for better understanding potential trade-offs between carbon sequestration and food security benefits of these fishes.

Quantifying how the ocean cycles carbon and nutrients naturally is also relevant to understanding the efficacy and side effects of marine carbon dioxide removal strategies such as ocean iron fertilization. The ocean absorbs about a quarter of our anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Ocean iron fertilization is a proposed strategy for making the ocean take up and store even more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it already does. There are still outstanding scientific questions about how much and how long would this strategy store additional carbon, and what the unintended side effects might be. I’m studying this topic now with Dr. Stephanie Arcusa, Dr. Amy Maas, and other colleagues who work in oceanographic modeling, biogeochemistry, marine ecology, carbon accounting, and other areas. In my view, my role as a scientist is to advance and communicate the best scientific understanding that we have of these topics so that society can make more informed decisions. To do so, I use a combination of oceanographic and ecological modeling, data collection at sea and in the lab, and two-way science communication with stakeholders. Other professional interests include storytelling through science, teaching, and engaging with policy-making processes. Outside of work you can find me hiking in the summer, cross-country skiing in the winter, and spending time with family and friends.

Linked above are my CV and publication list. My email and Github page are linked in the icons below. Please feel free to reach out with questions about the research I’m involved in, my code shared on Github, careers in ocean sciences, science policy, fisheries management, marine carbon dioxide removal, or other related topics.