IRINA CHUBARENKO – OCEANOLOGIST, HUMAN, TEACHER

Abstract

Dr. Irina Chubarenko is a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. She is an oceanologist, hydrophysicist, and Chief Researcher at the Atlantic Branch of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences. She holds a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and is the Head of the Laboratory of Marine Physics. Irina Petrovna was a distinguished scientist and a remarkable person who dedicated her entire life to oceanography. Her doctoral dissertation presented a new concept for the formation of a cold intermediate layer in the Baltic Sea. She established a new scientific field and formed the first research group in Russia to study the dynamics of microplastics in the marine environment. Her laboratory team, composed primarily of young researchers, achieved significant results and earned international recognition. Irina Petrovna’s diverse interests are reflected in three monographs: on physical limnology, on horizontal convection in the seas, and on the dynamics of microplastic particles and microplastic pollution in the World Ocean and the Baltic Sea, coastal waters, and beach and bottom sediments. Irina Petrovna was a bright, engaging personality, gifted as a leader and teacher.