Joao Vitorino is a physical oceanographer at IH, with more than 30 years of experience. He participated in several research projects as coordinator, as principal investigator responsible for IH participation or as team member. He was the principal scientist/technical responsible in 14 research cruises conducted by IH. His main areas of work comprise the dynamics of the coastal ocean areas, the processes associated with submarine canyons and the strategies for coastal ocean observation. These areas are developed by combining field observations, theoretical approaches and numerical modelling with data assimilation.