Department of Chemical Engineering
Marine Science Institute

University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Email: ira.leifer@bubbleology.com

Project:             Simulation of a Subsurface Oil Spill by a Hydrocarbon Seep (SSOS-HYS)

              Oil Slicks in the Ocean: Predicting their Release Points Using the Natural Laboratory of

                                                         the Santa Barbara Channel

 

Education:          B.S.                      Physics/ Astronomy, SUNY at Stony Brook, New York                                      1984

                             M.S.                     Aeronomy, University of Michigan                                                                      1989

                             Ph.D.                   Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology                                       1995

 

Positions:          2001-Present        Researcher I, Marine Science Institute and Chemical Engineering Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA.

               1999-2001            Post Doctoral Researcher, Chemical Engineering Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA.

                            1998-1999            Visiting Scientist, TNO Physics and Electronics Laboratory, The Hague, The Netherlands.

                            1996-1999            Post Doctoral Researcher, Martin Ryan Institute of Marine Science, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.

Selected Publications:

Clark, J.F., Leifer, I., Washburn, L., and B.P. Luyendyk. 2003. Compositional changes in natural gas bubble plumes: Observations from the Coal Oil Point Seep Field. Geo. Mar Lett. (submitted).

Leifer, I. and I. MacDonald. 2003. Dynamics of the gas flux from shallow gas hydrate deposits: Interaction between oily hydrate bubbles and the oceanic environment. Earth Plan. Sci. Lett. (in press).

Leifer, I., De Leeuw, G., and L. Cohen. 2003. Calibrating optical bubble size by the displaced mass method. Chem. Eng. Sci. (submitted).

Leifer, I. and J. Clark. 2002. Modeling trace gases in hydrocarbon seep bubbles. Application to marine hydrocarbon seeps in the Santa Barbara Channel. Russian Geology and Geophysics 43(7): 613-621.

Leifer, I. and R. Patro. 2002. The bubble mechanism for transport of methane from the shallow sea bed to the surface:  A review and sensitivity study. Cont. Shelf Res. 22: 2409-2428.

Leifer, I., De Leeuw, G. and L.H. Cohen. 2002. Optical measurement of bubbles: System’ design and application. J. Atm. Ocean. Tech. (in press).

Leifer, I., Luyendyk, B., and K. Broderick. 2002. Tracking Shane Seep oil from the seabed to the sea surface, at Coal Oil Point, California. In: Proceedings of the Coastal World Oceans 2002 Conference, Santa Barbara, CA, Oct 24- 27, 2002 (in press).

MacDonald, I.R., Leifer, I., Sassen, R., Stine, P., Mitchell, R., and N. Guinasso Jr. 2002. Transfer of hydrocarbons from natural seeps to the water column and atmosphere. Geofluids 2: 95-107.

De Leeuw, G., Kunz, G.J., Caulliez, G., Woolf, D.K., Bowyer, P., Leifer, I., Nightingale, P., Liddicoat, M., Rhee, T.S., Andreae, M.O., Larsen, S.E., Hansen, F.A., and S. Lund. 2001. LUMINY: An Overview. In Gas Transfer and Water Surfaces, Eds. M. Donelan, W. Drennan, E.S. Salzman, and R.Wanninkhof, AGU Monograph 127: 291-294.

De Leeuw, G. and I. Leifer, 2001. Bubbles outside the bubble plume during the LUMINY wind-wave experiment in Gas Transfer and Water Surfaces, Eds. M. Donelan, W. Drennan, E.S. Salzman, and R. Wanninkhof, AGU Monograph 127: 295-301.

Leifer, I. and G. De Leeuw. 2001. Bubble Measurements in Breaking-Wave Generated Bubble Plumes During the LUMINY Wind-Wave Experiment.In Gas Transfer and Water Surfaces, Eds. M. Donelan, W. Drennan, E.S. Salzman, and R. Wanninkhof, AGU Monograph 127: 303-309.

Patro, R., Leifer, I., and P. Bowyer. 2001. Better bubble process modeling : Improved bubble hydrodynamics parameterisation. In Gas Transfer and Water Surfaces, Eds. M. Donelan, W. Drennan, E.S. Salzman, and R. Wanninkhof, AGU Monograph 127: 315-320.

Boles, J.R., Clark, J.F., Leifer, I., and L. Washburn. 2000. Temporal variation in natural methane seep rate due to tides, Coal Oil Point area, California. J. Geophys. Res. 106(C11): 27077-27086.

Leifer, I., Clark, J., and R. Chen. 2000. Modifications of the local environment by a natural marine hydrocarbon seep, Geophys. Res. Lett. 27(22): 3711-3714.

Leifer, I., De Leeuw, G., and L.H. Cohen, 2000. Secondary bubble production from breaking waves: The bubble burst mechanism, Geophys. Res. Lett. 27(24): 4077-4080.

Leifer, I., Patro, R., and P. Bowyer. 2000. A study on the temperature variation of rise velocity for large clean bubbles. J. Atm. and Ocean. Tech. 17(10): 1392-1402.

Asher, W.E., Karle, L.M., Higgins, B.J., Farley, P.J., Leifer, I.S., and E.C. Monahan. 1995. The effect of bubble plume size on the parameterization of air-seawater gas transfer velocities”, In Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Air-Water Gas Transfer Meeting, Eds. B. Jähne and E.C. Monahan, Aeon Verlag, Hanau, Germany, 205-216.

Asher, W.E., Karle, L.M., Higgins, B.J., Farley, P.J., Monahan, E.C., and I.S. Leifer, 1995. The influence of bubble plumes on air-seawater gas transfer velocities, J. Geophys. Res. 101: 12, 027-12,041.

Leifer, I.S. 1995. A validation study of bubble-mediated air-sea gas transfer modeling, Ph.D. Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.

Leifer, I.S., Asher, W.E., and P.J. Farley. 1995. A validation study of bubble mediated air-sea gas transfer modeling, The Third International Symposium on Air-Water Gas Transfer Heidelberg University, Eds. B. Jähne and E.C. Monahan, Aeon Verlag, Hanau, Germany, 269-283.

Asher, W.E., Farley, P.J., Higgins, B.J., Karle, L.M., Leifer, I.S., and E.C. Monahan. 1994. The influence of bubble plumes on air-sea gas exchange, EOS Nov. 1 Supplement 75(44): 369.

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