Barak Herut

Barak Herut received his PhD in 1992 (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) and was promoted to Full Research Professor in 2003. He was appointed as the Director General of Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute from 2005 till 2022 (www.ocean.org.il ). In 1998-9 he has been a visiting professor at the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University (USA) and since 2008 affiliated as Full Professor at the University of Haifa. Herut has published more than 180 refereed journal articles and book chapters, > 220 scientific reports and supervised 30 graduate students. His main interests concern studies on chemistry of atmospheric aerosols, marine pollution, water geochemistry and chemical oceanography. Emphasis on transfer mechanisms of major and trace constituents from the atmosphere and land to the marine and other aquatic reservoirs, and their role in biogeochemical processes across the reservoirs. He is coordinating Israel's National Monitoring Program in the Mediterranean Sea and participated in several MEDPOL projects. He was the Israel state representative and head of Israel delegation in the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO (2005-2022). He has worked on several geo-chemical studies in the SE Mediterranean, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. He has a broad experience in observational oceanography by participation of >60 national and international research cruises, some of them as chief scientist, focusing on water and sediment geochemistry and applying several sampling devices.