Iris Kriest

Iris Kriest is a senior scientist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, working in the Biogeochemical Modeling Research Unit. She has been a key figure in global ocean biogeochemical modeling since 2004, focusing on parameter calibration and model evaluation against observations. Her habilitation at the University of Kiel (2019) and extensive postdoctoral experience at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and Institute of Oceanography Kiel establish her as a leading expert in marine biogeochemical cycles.

• Education:
  • 1994: Diploma in Biology, University of Kiel
  • 1999: PhD in Marine Science, University of Kiel
  • 2019: Habilitation, University of Kiel

Her research interests center on:

• Global-scale biogeochemical model calibration
• Analysis of oceanic oxygen minimum zones
• Zooplankton's role in carbon/nitrogen cycles
• Development of the Transport Matrix Method
• Particle flux and remineralization processes
• Climate-ocean biogeochemistry interactions

Recent peer-reviewed articles highlight her work on model optimization techniques (CMA-ES algorithms), mesopelagic ocean respiration, and integrating biogeochemistry into Earth system models. She leads work package 6 of the OceanICU EU Horizon project (2022-2027) and co-led SFB 754 subproject B8 (2016-2019) analyzing tropical oxygen minimum zones.