Dr hab. Beata Szymczycha, Prof. IO PAN

• Dr hab. Beata Szymczycha is a professor and marine biogeochemist at the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Her research examines submarine groundwater discharge and its influence on marine biogeochemical cycles, particularly carbon and nitrogen transformations in coastal and shelf seas. She integrates geochemical, microbiological, and oceanographic methods to study nutrient fluxes, sediment–water exchange, and trace-element transport. Her work spans diverse environments, including the Baltic Sea and Arctic fjords, where she investigates climate-driven changes in marine systems. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in leading international journals and collaborates widely in interdisciplinary projects focused on land–sea interactions and ecosystem functioning.

Key research Interests

• Submarine groundwater discharge
• Denitrification and anammox in water and sediments
• Biogeochemistry of Arctic fjords
• Nutrient fluxes and trace element transport in coastal zones
• Hydrogeochemical processes affecting marine ecosystems

Professional Affiliations

• ASLO (Association for the Sciences Meeting)
• GEOTARCERS
• European Association of Geochemistry
• Komisja Mikrobiologii i Biotechnologii Morskiej PAN

Current projects

• https://secucoast.weebly.com/

Publications

• Dr. Szymczycha is the author and co-author of numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications in leading international journals such as Frontiers in Marine Science, Limnology and Oceanography, Marine Chemistry, Nature Geoscience, and Earth System Dynamics. Her recent work has addressed topics including:

1. Grabski, M., Kotlarska, E., Łuczkiewicz, A., Hryniewicz, K., Węgrzyn, G. and Szymczycha, B. (2025) Spatial and seasonal distribution of selected nitrogen cycle genes in deep waters of the Baltic Proper. Frontiers in Marine Science.
2. Hinsby, K., Scholten, J., Virtasalo, J., Szymczycha, B., Leth, J.O., Andersen, L.T., Ondracek, M., Tulstrup, J., Latacz, M. and Bannasch, R. (2025) Towards a digital information platform for locating and assessing environmental impacts of submarine groundwater discharge: Examples from the Baltic Sea. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 13(3), 614.
3. McKenzie, T., Tomer, A.S., Cardis, T., Majtényi-Hill, C., Szymczycha, B., Hall, P.O.J., Zhao, S., Bonaglia, S., Böttcher, M.E. and Santos, I.R. (2025) Radium isotopes quantify vertical mixing and reveal large benthic silicate fluxes in anoxic deep waters. Limnology and Oceanography, 70(8), 2332–2347.
4. Sivasamy, P., Diak, M., Winogradow, A., Bange, H.W., Borecka, M., Makuch, P., Koziorowska-Makuch, K., Kuliński, K., Mackiewicz, A. and Szymczycha, B. (2025) Spatial and seasonal variability of excess dinitrogen gas in the Baltic Sea. Frontiers in Marine Science, 12, 1455803.
5. Szymczycha, B., Diak, M., Hong, W.-L., Böttcher, M.E., Lepland, A., Makuch, P., ten Hietbrink, S., Saghravani, S.R., Sen, A. and Winogradow, A. (2025) Submarine groundwater discharge and gas hydrate dissociation fuel organic matter formation in Arctic fjord sediments. Marine Chemistry, 104570.
6. ten Hietbrink, S., Patton, H., Dugan, B., Szymczycha, B., Sen, A., Lepland, A., Knies, J., Kim, J.-H., Chen, N.-C. and Hong, W.-L. (2025) Deglaciation drove seawater infiltration and slowed submarine groundwater discharge. Nature Geoscience, 1–8.
7. Tomer, A.S., McKenzie, T., Majtényi-Hill, C., Cardis, T., Henriksson, L., Hall, P.O.J., Szymczycha, B., Mitschke, N. and Santos, I.R. (2025) Radium isotopes trace cross-shelf nutrient transport in a marginal sea. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 325.
8. McKenzie, T., Majtényi-Hill, C., Henriksson, L., Ljungberg, W., Reithmaier, G.M.S., Cotovicz Jr, L.C., Lencina-Avila, J.M., Mitschke, N., Böttcher, M.E., Szymczycha, B., et al. (2025) Large-scale hydrogeochemical and isotopic observations in the Baltic Sea system. Scientific Data, 12, 1757. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-06217-9
9. Lengier, M.; Koziorowska-Makuch, K.; Szymczycha, B.; Kuliński, K., Bioavailability and remineralization rates of sediment-derived dissolved organic carbon from a Baltic Sea depositional area. Frontiers in Marine Science 2024, 11, 1359563.
10. von Ahn, C. M. E.; Dellwig, O.; Szymczycha, B.; Kotwicki, L.; Rooze, J.; Endler, R.; Escher, P.; Schmiedinger, I.; Sültenfuß, J.; Diak, M., Submarine groundwater discharge into a semi-enclosed coastal bay of the southern Baltic Sea: A multi-method approach. Oceanologia 2024, 66 (1), 111-138.
11. Ljungberg, W.; Yau, Y. Y.; Cabral, A.; Majtényi‐Hill, C.; Henriksson, L.; McKenzie, T.; Ruiz‐Angulo, A.; Szymczycha, B.; Dittmar, T.; Ulber, I., Carbon outwelling and uptake along a tidal glacier‐lagoon‐ocean continuum. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 2024, 129 (6), e2023JG007895.
12. Loginova, A. N.; Wünsch, U. J.; Zabłocka, M.; Cherkasheva, A.; Szymczycha, B.; Kuliński, K.; Winogradow, A.; Kowalczuk, P., Qualitative variability of dissolved organic matter in the Baltic Sea sediments apparent from fluxes and optical properties. Frontiers in Marine Science 2024, 11, 1433199.
13. Mazur-Marzec, H.; Andersson, A. F.; Błaszczyk, A.; Dąbek, P.; Górecka, E.; Grabski, M.; Jankowska, K.; Jurczak-Kurek, A.; Kaczorowska, A. K.; Kaczorowski, T.; Karlson, B.; Kataržytė, M.; Kobos, J.; Kotlarska, E.; Krawczyk, B.; Łuczkiewicz, A.; Piwosz, K.; Rybak, B.; Rychert, K.; Sjöqvist, C.; Surosz, W.; Szymczycha, B.; Toruńska-Sitarz, A.; Węgrzyn, G.; Witkowski, A.; Węgrzyn, A., Biodiversity of microorganisms in the Baltic Sea: the power of novel methods in the identification of marine microbes. FEMS Microbiology Reviews 2024, 48 (5).
14. Wilson, S. J.; Moody, A.; McKenzie, T.; Cardenas, M. B.; Luijendijk, E.; Sawyer, A. H.; Wilson, A.; Michael, H. A.; Xu, B.; Knee, K. L.; Cho, H.-M.; Weinstein, Y.; Paytan, A.; Moosdorf, N.; Chen, C.-T. A.; Beck, M.; Lopez, C.; Murgulet, D.; Kim, G.; Charette, M. A.; Waska, H.; Ibánhez, J. S. P.; Chaillou, G.; Oehler, T.; Onodera, S.-i.; Saito, M.; Rodellas, V.; Dimova, N.; Montiel, D.; Dulai, H.; Richardson, C.; Du, J.; Petermann, E.; Chen, X.; Davis, K. L.; Lamontagne, S.; Sugimoto, R.; Wang, G.; Li, H.; Torres, A. I.; Demir, C.; Bristol, E.; Connolly, C. T.; McClelland, J. W.; Silva, B. J.; Tait, D.; Kumar, B.; Viswanadham, R.; Sarma, V.; Silva-Filho, E.; Shiller, A.; Lecher, A.; Tamborski, J.; Bokuniewicz, H.; Rocha, C.; Reckhardt, A.; Böttcher, M. E.; Jiang, S.; Stieglitz, T.; Gbewezoun, H. G. V.; Charbonnier, C.; Anschutz, P.; Hernández-Terrones, L. M.; Babu, S.; Szymczycha, B.; Sadat-Noori, M.; Niencheski, F.; Null, K.; Tobias, C.; Song, B.; Anderson, I. C.; Santos, I. R., Global subterranean estuaries modify groundwater nutrient loading to the ocean. Limnology and Oceanography Letters 2024, 9 (4), 411-422.
15. Saghravani, S. R.; Böttcher, M. E.; Hong, W. L.; Kuliński, K.; Lepland, A.; Sen, A.; Szymczycha, B., Distributions of in situ parameters, dissolved (in)organic carbon, and nutrients in the water column and pore waters of Arctic fjords (western Spitsbergen) during a melting season. Earth Syst. Sci. Data 2024, 16 (7), 3419-3431.”
16. Ehlert von Ahn, C. M.; Dellwig, O.; Szymczycha, B.; Kotwicki, L.; Rooze, J.; Endler, R.; Escher, P.; Schmiedinger, I.; Sültenfuß, J.; Diak, M.; Gehre, M.; Struck, U.; Vogler, S.; Böttcher, M. E., Submarine groundwater discharge into a semi-enclosed coastal bay of the southern Baltic Sea: A multi-method approach. Oceanologia 2024, 66 (1), 111-138.
17. Hinsby, K.; Scholten, J.; Virtasalo, J.; Szymczycha, B.; Leth, J. O.; Andersen, L. T.; Ondracek, M.; Tulstrup, J.; Latacz, M.; Bannasch, R., Towards a Digital Information Platform for Locating and Assessing Environmental Impacts of Submarine Groundwater Discharge: Examples from the Baltic Sea. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 2025, 13 (3), 614.
18. Grabski, M.; Kotlarska, E.; Łuczkiewicz, A.; Hryniewicz, K.; Węgrzyn, G.; Szymczycha, B., Spatial and seasonal distribution of selected nitrogen cycle genes in deep waters of the Baltic Proper. Frontiers in Marine Science 2025.
19. Sivasamy, P.; Diak, M.; Winogradow, A.; Bange, H. W.; Borecka, M.; Makuch, P.; Koziorowska-Makuch, K.; Kuliński, K.; Mackiewicz, A.; Szymczycha, B., Spatial and seasonal variability of excess dinitrogen gas in the Baltic Sea. Frontiers in Marine Science 2025, 12, 1455803.
20. Katarzyna Koziorowska-Makuch, Beata Szymczycha, Helmuth Thomas, Karol Kuliński, The marine carbonate system variability in high meltwater season (Spitsbergen Fjords, Svalbard), Progress in Oceanography,Volume 211, 2023, 102977, ISSN 0079-6611, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2023.102977.
21. Borawska Z., Szymczycha B., Silberberger M.J., Koziorowska-Makuch K., Szczepanek M., Kędra M., 2022. Benthic fluxes of dissolved silica are an important component of the marine Si cycle in the coastal zone. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 273:107880, DOI: 10.1016/j.ecss.2022.107880
22. Kuliński K., Rehder G., Asmala E., Bartosova A., Carstensen J., Gustafsson B., Hall P.O.J., Humborg C., Jilbert T., Jürgens K., Meier H.E.M., Müller-Karulis B., Naumann M., Olesen J.E., Savchuk O., Schramm A., Slomp C.P., Sofiev M., Sobek A., Szymczycha B., Undeman E., 2022. Biogeochemical functioning of the Baltic Sea. Earth System Dynamics 13:633–685, DOI: 10.5194/esd-13-633-2022
23. Dzierzbicka-Głowacka L., Dybowski D., Janecki M., Wojciechowska E., Szymczycha B., Potrykus D., Nowicki A., Szymkiewicz A., Zima P., Jaworska-Szulc B., Pietrzak S., Pazikowska-Sapota G., Kalinowska D., Nawrot N., Wielgat P., Dembska G., Matej-Łukowicz K., Szczepańska K., Puszkarczuk T., 2022. Modelling the impact of the agricultural holdings and land-use structure on the quality of inland and coastal waters with an innovative and interdisciplinary toolkit. Agricultural Water Management 263:107438, DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107438
24. Piwoni-Piórewicz A., Strekopytov S., Humphreys-Williams E., Najorka J., Szymczycha B., Kukliński P., 2022. Polymorphism of CaCO3 and the variability of elemental composition of the calcareous skeletons secreted by invertebrates along the salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea. Geobiology 20:575-596, DOI: 10.1111/gbi.
25. Reckermann M., Omstedt A., Soomere T., Aigars J., Akhtar N., Bełdowska M., Bełdowski J., Cronin T., Czub M., Eero M., Hyytiäinen K.P., Jalkanen J.-P., Kiessling A., Kjellström E., Kuliński K., Larsén X.G., McCrackin M., Meier H.E.M., Oberbeckmann S., Parnell K., Pons-Seres de Brauwer C., Poska A., Saarinen J., Szymczycha B., Undeman E., Wörman A., Zorita E., 2022. Human impacts and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region. Earth System Dynamics 13:1–80, DOI: 10.5194/esd-13-1-2022
26. Lengier M., Szymczycha B., Brodecka-Goluch A., Kłostowska Ż., Kuliński K., 2021. Benthic diffusive fluxes of organic and inorganic carbon, ammonium and phosphates from deep water sediments of the Baltic Sea. Oceanologia 63:370-384, DOI: 10.1016/j.oceano.2021.04.002
27. Stokowski M., Winogradow A., Szymczycha B., Carstensen J., Kuliński K., 2021. The CO₂ system dynamics in the vicinity of the Vistula River mouth (the southern Baltic Sea): A baseline investigation. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 258:107444, DOI: 10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107444
28. Szymczycha B.; Klostowska, Z.; Lengier, M.; Dzierzbicka-Glowacka, L., Significance of nutrient fluxes via submarine groundwater discharge in the Bay of Puck, southern Baltic Sea. Oceanologia 2020, 62 (2), 117-125.
29. Szymczycha B.; Borecka, M.; Białk-Bielińska, A.; Siedlewicz, G.; Pazdro, K., Submarine groundwater discharge as a source of pharmaceutical and caffeine residues in coastal ecosystem: Bay of Puck, southern Baltic Sea case study. Sci Total Environ 2020, 713, 136522.
30. Klostowska, Z.; Szymczycha B.; Lengier, M.; Zarzeczanska, D.; Dzierzbicka-Glowacka, L., Hydrogeochemistry and magnitude of SGD in the Bay of Puck, southern Baltic Sea. Oceanologia 2020, 62 (1), 1-11.
31. Dzierzbicka-Głowacka L., Janecki M., Dybowski D., Szymczycha B., Obarska-Pempkowiak H., Wojciechowska E., Zima P., Pietrzak S., Pazikowska-Sapota G., Jaworska-Szulc B., Nowicki A., Kłostowska Ż., Szymkiewicz A., Galer-Tatarowicz K., Wichorowski M., Białoskórski M., Puszkarczuk T., 2019. A new approach for investigating the impact of pesticides and nutrient flux from agricultural holdings and land-use structures on baltic sea coastal waters. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies 28:2531-2539, DOI: 10.15244/pjoes/92524
32. Zaborska A., Siedlewicz G., Szymczycha B., Dzierzbicka-Głowacka L., Pazdro K., 2019. Legacy and emerging pollutants in the Gulf of Gdańsk (southern Baltic Sea) – loads and distribution revisited. Marine Pollution Bulletin 139, 238-255.
33. McGovern M., Berge J., Szymczycha B., Węsławski J.M., Renaud P.E., 2018. Hyperbenthic food web structure in an Arctic fjord. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 603, 29–46, https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12713.
34. Kuliński K., Szymczycha B., Koziorowska K., Hammer K., Schneider B. Anomaly of total boron concentration in the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea and its consequence for the CO₂ system calculations. Marine Chemistry 204: 11-19.
35. Graca B., Zakrzewska D., Szymczycha B., Sorption of Cr, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, Ni, and Co to nano-TiO2 in seawater. IWA Publishing 2018 Water Science & Technology 77.1, 2018.
36. Kuliński K., Schneider B., Szymczycha B., Stokowski M., 2017. Structure and functioning of the acid–base system in the Baltic Sea. Earth System Dynamics 8, 1107-1120. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-1107-2017.
37. Szymczycha B., Winogradow A., Kuliński K., Koziorowska K., Pempkowiak J., 2017. Diurnal and seasonal DOC and POC variability in the land-locked sea, Oceanologia 59(3): 379-388. DOI: 10.1016/j.oceano.2017.03.008.
38. Szymczycha B., Kroeger K.D., Crusius J., Bratton J.F., 2017. Depth of the vadose zone controls aquifer biogeochemical conditions and extent of anthropogenic nitrogen removal,. Water Research 123, 794-801. DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.06.048.
39. Beata Szymczycha, Possible Climate Change Impact on Groundwater Discharge to the Bay of Puck, Southern Baltic Sea w Impact of Climate Changes on Marine Environments, Springer, 2016, 61-73. ISBN 978-3-319-14283-8, ISSN 2190-5207.
40. Szymczycha B., Kroeger K., Pempkowiak J., 2016. Significance of groundwater discharge along the coast of Poland as a source of dissolved metals to the southern Baltic Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin 1, 151-162.
41. Kotwicki L, Grzelak K, Czub M, Dellwig O, Gentz T, Szymczycha B., Bottcher ME, Submarine groundwater discharge to the Baltic coastal zone: Impacts on the meiofaunal community, Journal of Marine Systems, 2014, 129, 118–126.
42. Szymczycha B., Maciejewska A, Winogradow A, Pempkowiak J, Could submarine groundwater discharge be a significant carbon source to the southern Baltic Sea? Oceanologia, 2014, 56 (2), 327–347.
43. Szymczycha B., Miotk M, Pempkowiak J, 2013. Submarine Groundwater Discharge as a source of mercury in the Bay of Puck. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 224, DOI 10.1007/s11270-013-1542-0.
44. Szymczycha B., Vogler S, Pempkowiak J, 2012. Nutrient fluxes via submarine groundwater discharge to the Bay of Puck, southern Baltic Sea. Science of the Total Environment, 438, 86–93.
45. Pempkowiak J, Szymczycha B., Kotwicki L, 2010. Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) to the Baltic Sea. Rocznik Ochrony Środowiska 12, 17–32.