Dr. Ross Vennell

Cawthron, Coastal and Ecosystems Team Leader

Ross is a physical oceanographer with over 25 years’ experience focusing on coastal and shelf oceanography. 

He has worked in a diverse range of areas from theoretical work around long period ocean waves, to understanding large scale tidal energy.  His current passion is for quantifying physical connectivity in the ocean.

He is now Coastal and Ecosystems Team Leader at Cawthon, after being Associate Professor at the University of Otago’s Department of Marine Science for many years. Ross brings a range of skills to the Moana Project.

His work on faster techniques for tracking virtual particles is being used within the Moana Project to further develop a public engagement tool. This tool allows people to drop virtual plastic around NZ and see where it travels to, http://www.oceanplasticsimulator.nz.