Maria Setefilla De La Fuente Ruiz
Job description
I am a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at iC3 – Centre for ice, Cryosphere, Carbon and Climate, Department of Geosciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway. In collaboration with GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany), I develop numerical models to investigate methane hydrate dynamics and methane emissions from the Arctic seafloor.
My project, SeepingArctic (Horizon Europe, grant no. 101271759), focuses on the Vestnesa Ridge along the West Svalbard Margin, one of the Arctic Ocean’s most active methane seepage areas. As the Arctic Ocean warms, understanding how much methane is released from these systems, and how much reaches the ocean, becomes increasingly important. I investigate how three interconnected processes shape methane release: the internal dynamics of hydrate systems, geological structures that govern fluid migration, and microbial communities that consume methane before it reaches the ocean.
By integrating these processes into numerical models, my research aims to distinguish natural variability from climate-driven change, quantify the fate of methane released from the seafloor, and assess the implications for ocean carbon cycling and climate feedbacks.
UiT supervisors: Prof. Andreia Plaza-Faverola and Prof. Sandra Arndt
Research secondment: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, hosted by Dr. Shubhangi Gupta
Research interests
My background combines geology, geotechnical engineering and ocean sciences. For nearly a decade, I have developed numerical models of methane hydrate systems, from Antarctica to the Arctic, to understand how fluids and gases move through marine sediments and how hydrate reservoirs evolve over geological timescales.
My research interests include:
- Methane hydrate dynamics: self-sustained cycles of gas accumulation and release, and the influence of past environmental conditions on present-day behaviour.
- Fluid migration and geological structures: how faults, fractures and other pathways influence gas transport and seafloor seepage.
- Microbial methane cycling: how microbial oxidation regulates methane emissions and affects sediment and ocean carbon chemistry.
- Past and future climate interactions: reconstructing hydrate-system evolution and assessing its response to environmental change.
- Frozen environments: extending numerical modelling approaches to subsea permafrost and other cryospheric systems.
My modelling is grounded in field observations and oceanographic research. I have crossed the Drake Passage twice and participated in several transatlantic oceanographic expeditions.
Science communication and outreach
I am passionate about making science accessible, fostering public engagement with climate research, and empowering women in STEM. I am an EU Climate Pact Ambassador, a mentor with STEM Talent Girl, and scientific advisor of SEA (Society for Environmental Awareness), a non-profit combining science, art and storytelling.
Through my science communication platform, Methane Matters by Maria, I translate complex research into accessible stories that connect methane, the ocean and climate change.