Dirk Koopmans is a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology. He completed his PhD at the University of Virginia in research on aquatic metabolism using the aquatic eddy covariance technique. Because this technique can be used to directly quantify fluxes of dissolved oxygen through the water column under in situ hydrodynamic conditions and at high temporal resolution, it offers insights into the drivers of aquatic metabolic processes that may otherwise go undetected. These insights can improve predictions of how aquatic ecosystems will respond to change. Dirk's research focuses on new applications of the technique.