Alexander Andriatis
I'm a postdoctoral researcher in the Environmental Dynamics Laboratory at MIT, where I study ocean turbulence and particle transport. My current work supports understanding the efficacy of marine carbon dioxide removal and the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining. My research spans observational field campaigns using novel instruments, lab studies, and numerical modeling.
I am also a passionate decarbonization advocate and enjoy thinking about solutions for the clean energy transition.
If you'd like to get in touch, send me an email.
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Projects
Deep-Sea Sediment Monitoring
Sediment plumes are at the heart of the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining. Predicting how far a plume spreads requires the size and settling velocity of the suspended particles, which aggregate and break apart in ways that cannot be reproduced by bringing samples to the surface. A prototype of the RTSSV particle camera was previously deployed on collector vehicle trials to observe particle size and shape, and its first field deployment on a gimbaled bottom lander took place in Halifax Harbour in October 2025.
We are building out a bottom lander rated to 6000 m for benthic sediment transport science and deep-sea mining monitoring. It carries the gimbaled RTSSV, a five-beam ADCP with echosounder, a CTD with turbidity sensor, dual acoustic releases, and a lithium battery for month-long deployments.
Presentations
Andriatis, A., T. Peacock, S. El Mousadik, R. Ouillon, and C. Munoz-Royo: An in-situ optical particle size and settling velocity sensor (RTSSV) for deep sea mining monitoring. Impacts of Deep-Sea Mining session, Ocean Sciences Meeting, February 2026.