PAULA NÚÑEZ
Biography
Paula Núñez is a civil engineer specialized in the study of the transport and dispersion of plastic debris in estuarine and coastal environments. She graduated in Civil Engineering from the University of Cantabria (UC, Spain) in 2011, complementing her education with a Masters in Coastal and Port Engineering between 2011 and 2013, offered by the Department of Hydrological and Environmental Sciences and Techniques of the same university. During her Ph.D., conducted between 2016 and 2021, she focused her research on the transport and dispersion of plastic debris in estuarine environments, with the support of the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the University of Cantabria (IHCantabria). This work laid the foundation for her subsequent postdoctoral work, funded by the Margarita Salas Postdoctoral Grant, supported by the European Union-NextGenerationEU, the Ministry of Universities, and the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, through a UC call. During her postdoctoral period, Paula expanded her international experience with a one-year stay at the University of Genoa, Italy. She currently works as a researcher in the Oceanography, Estuaries, and Water Quality Group at IHCantabria, where she continues her research to understand and address challenges related to marine pollution and the conservation of coastal ecosystems.
RESEARCH LINES
Development of planning tools and operational models at local scales for assisting in the management of oil spills.
Development of methodologies for the identification of the most likely areas to accumulate marine litter in estuaries and bays.
Study of morphodynamic evolution and the effects of climate change in estuarine environments.
PUBLICATIONS
Núñez, P., Misic, C., Cutroneo, L., Capello, M., Medina, R., & Besio, G. (2023). Biofilm-induced effect on the buoyancy of plastic debris: An experimental study. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 193, 115239.
Núñez, P., Romano, A., García-Alba, J., Besio, G., & Medina, R. (2023). Wave-induced cross-shore distribution of different densities, shapes, and sizes of plastic debris in coastal environments: A laboratory experiment. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 187, 114561.
Núñez, P., Castanedo, S., & Medina, R. (2021). Role of ocean tidal asymmetry and estuarine geometry in the fate of plastic debris from ocean sources within tidal estuaries. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 259, 107470.
Núñez, P., Castanedo, S., & Medina, R. (2020). A global classification of astronomical tide asymmetry and periodicity using statistical and cluster analysis. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 125(8), e2020JC016143.
Gainza, J., Garnier, R., Nuñez, P., Jaramillo, C., González, E. M., Medina, R., … & Monge-Ganuzas, M. (2019). Accelerating beach recovery by plowing the intertidal bar: a field experiment along the northern Spanish coast. Journal of Coastal Research, 35(5), 973-984.
Núñez, P., García, A., Mazarrasa, I., Juanes, J. A., Abascal, A. J., Méndez, F., … & Medina, R. (2019). A methodology to assess the probability of marine litter accumulation in estuaries. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 144, 309-324.
Mazarrasa, I., Puente, A., Núñez, P., García, A., Abascal, A. J., & Juanes, J. A. (2019). Assessing the risk of marine litter accumulation in estuarine habitats. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 144, 117-128.
Monge-Ganuzas, M., Gainza, J., Liria, P., Epelde, I., Uriarte, A., Garnier, R., … & Medina, R. (2017). Morphodynamic evolution of Laida beach (Oka estuary, Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, southeastern Bay of Biscay) in response to supratidal beach nourishment actions. Journal of Sea Research, 130, 85-95.
Abascal, A. J., Castanedo, S., Núñez, P., Mellor, A., Clements, A., Pérez, B., … & Medina, R. (2017). A high-resolution operational forecast system for oil spill response in Belfast Lough. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 114(1), 302-314.
