ESA signature

Presence at Science Hub

June 2022 - June 2024

Host institution

ISMAR-CNR

Marco Bellacicco

Dr

visiting scientist

Biography

Since the beginning of my studies, I have had a particular interest in the Ocean, especially in relation to the ongoing climate change. So that, I decided to study biology and, in particular, ecology by taking several classes on marine ecosystem. During the master degree studies, I become more and more interested in oceanography, especially on the biological/physical interactions that are at the base of the ocean ecosystem functioning. After completing my PhD in 2016, I joined the marine optics and remote sensing group of the Laboratoire de Oceanographie de Villefranche sur Mer (LOV) with a 2-years postdoc fellowship funded by the Centre Nationales d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) working on future geostationary satellite missions for ocean observation and studies. After that, I returned back to Italy with a project funded by ESA aims to assess and understand the phytoplankton physiological response to the ocean warming using long-term satellite observations. Currently, I am a research scientist at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR) of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) in Rome.

Research

Currently, I am studying the biological/physical interactions at the base of ocean ecosystem functioning by the combined use of satellite (ocean colour) and in-situ measurements, mainly through statistical approaches. In particular, my interests are focused on the spatial and temporal variability of plankton (phytoplankton) physiology and productivity from short (hours/day) to inter-annual scales (seasons/years) as well as the organic carbon transfers between the surface mixed layer and the ocean interior by ocean dynamics.

Publications

Yang, G., Bellacicco, M., Organelli, E., & Xing, X. (2024). Global Variability of Phytoplankton Carbon and Non‐Algal Particles From Ocean Color Data Based on a Photoacclimation Model. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans129(1), e2023JC019922.

Marullo, S., Serva, F., Iacono, R., Napolitano, E., di Sarra, A., Meloni, D.,Francesco Monteleone, Damiano Sferlazzo, Lorenzo de Silvestri, Vincenzo de Toma, Andrea Pisano, Marco Bellacicco, Angela Landolfi, Emanuele Organelli, Chunxue Yang, Rosalia Santoleri. (2023). Record-breaking persistence of the 2022/23 marine heatwave in the Mediterranean Sea. Environmental Research Letters18(11), 114041.


Relevant themes

  1. OCEAN