ANDREASSEN, KARIN

Karin Andreassen is a Professor of Marine Geology and Geophysics at the Arctic University of Norway. Her main research interests are the history of the Barents Sea development in the Cenozoic with a focus on glaciological geomorphology, sediments and processes occurring in them, fluids and gas at shallow depths. She received a PhD at the Arctic University of Norway.

Karin taught marine geology at all levels of student training, and educated a large number of undergraduates and PhDs. She is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge, the University of Montpellier and the University of Barcelona.

Her research activity covers different aspects of marine geology and geophysics. For several years Karin has been involved in geophysical investigations of natural gas hydrates in arctic areas, focusing on identification, quantification and characterization of hydrates and associated free gas accumulations.  Her current research projects relate mainly to Cenozoic development of the Barents Sea area. Being a specialist in geophysics Karin uses in the research a wide range of methods for geophysical processing, modeling, interpretation of seismic data of both P- and S-waves. The last few years her research efforts have been focused on glacial geomorphology, sediments and processes. This includes research on identifying ice streams of the former Barents Sea - northern Fennoscandian Ice Sheets and reconstructing their behavior through the Pleistocene. The use of three-dimensional (3D) seismic has been important in this work, and together with her colleague, Karin has established at UiT a geophysical laboratory for interpretation and visualization of 3D seismic data.