Dr. Sam Purkis
Role in the Farasan Banks Project: Sam lead the habitat mapping efforts, working with Gwilym on ground truthing and habitat characterization. During this Expedition, he employed a new acoustic sediment profiler to begin to characterize the underlying reef structure and physical processes controlling the formation of these reefs.
Bio Summary: Sam is an Assistant Professor at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center. He received his B.Sc. degree in oceanography and marine biology from Southampton University, Southampton, U.K., a M.Sc. degree in geology, and a Ph.D. from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He lectures at the graduate level at both EU and US universities, and is involved in local capacity building initiatives to develop expertise in the environmental agencies of Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Dr. Purkis is renowned for work on the reef-scale monitoring of coral habitats using remote sensing technologies. His expertise stretches from air- and space-borne optical instruments to vessel-mounted acoustic tools and bathymetric LiDAR. His work concentrates on using technology to resolve seabed architecture of modern and ancient carbonate landscapes, with attention to the detection of change through time. This research is relevant to modeling the degradation of marine ecosystems and the development of management plans to promote sustainability. His work stretches from field monitoring to software development and mathematical simulation. Dr. Purkis has conducted work in the U.S.A., Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, U.A.E., Indonesia, Honduras, Malaysia, Madagascar, the Mariana Islands, Chagos, and throughout the Caribbean. Of particular focus has been the status and monitoring of seabed habitat in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf with multiple active projects in recent years. Well versed in state-of-the-art technological solutions for seabed mapping, his expertise is relevant to a broad spectrum of marine applications.
