Shubha Platt (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Sathyendranath), known professionally as Shubha Sathyendranath, is a marine scientist known for her work on marine optics and

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

of ocean colour. She is the 2021 recipient of the A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Sciences.

Career

Sathyendranath's education took place in India and France. In 2003 she was lead scientist of Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans. As of 2022 she is a scientist at

Plymouth Marine Laboratory Plymouth Marine Laboratory (abbreviated as PML) is a marine research organization and registered charity based in the city of Plymouth, England. It is a partner of the UK Research & Innovation's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). PML's ...

. Sathyendranath was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2023 Birthday Honours The 2023 King's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of King Charles III to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part ...

for services to oceanography.

Research

Sathyendranath's early research was on the development of algorithms define water masses based on their optical properties and how phytoplankton change the absorption of light in water. She then went on to use satellites to quantify primary production in seawater through work that was done in collaboration with

Trevor Platt Trevor Charles Platt (August 12, 1942 - April 6, 2020) was a British and Canadian biological oceanographer who was distinguished for his fundamental contributions to quantifying primary production by phytoplankton at various scales of space an ...

. This research led to global estimates of primary production. Her research also revealed that

diatoms A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma'') is any member of a large group comprising several Genus, genera of algae, specifically microalgae, found in the oceans, waterways and soils of the world. Living diatoms make up a significant portion of Earth's B ...

and growth rates of phytoplankton could be defined from satellite imagery.

Selected publications

* * * *

Awards and honors

In 2021, Sathyendranath received the A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Sciences. In 2022 she received the

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

's Knight of the Order of Cultural Merit.

References

External links

* Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Women oceanographers British oceanographers Members of the Order of the British Empire {{Improve categories, date=February 2023