Nansen Tutu Center for Marine Environmental Research
Jenny Veitch (SAEON) along with Lionel Renault (LEGOS, IRD) organized a two-week long CROCO Ocean modelling Spring Training, 14-28 October 2022. The workshop was supported by a joint NRF-CNRS project that forms part of CROCO-Sud (https://gdri-croco.cnrs.fr/) that is an international consortium that facilitates the formalizing and strengthening the links between the French CROCO community and partners from the global South. The workshop was held at the Center for High Performance Computing at the CSIR campus in Rosebank, Cape Town. There were 132 applicants, but only 20 could be selected to participate in person and 10 attended vitually. 8 international experts including Serena Illig and Marylou Bachelery traveled to Cape Town to lecture in person and 7 participated virtually. Two local participants from outside of Cape Town were funded to attend the ‘Basics’ week in person, while one person from Senegal was funded to attend the ‘Advanced’ week. The feedback from the workshop has been extremely positive and helpful and will be used to improve our offering when we run the workshop again next year. Among the participant were NTC postdoctoral fellows Mesmin Founi Awo and Serge Tomety.
Serge Tomety, Founi Mesmin and Kirstin Petzer attended the TRIATLAS summer school, conference and general assembly in Brazil. The summer school was held in Tamandaré, Brazil from the 25th of September to the 1st of October. The summer school was organised and hosted by Universidade Federal de Pernambuco and consisted of lectures on topics from ‘physics to top predators and fisheries’. The students, from a range of countries, were able to exchange ideas and skills by working together on group projects and exercises. All of the students also enjoyed the half-day field trips to the reef and mangrove ecosystems. Serge was one of the postdocs asked to give a lecture on the dynamics of the Benguela Upwelling System. Serge Tomety, Founi Mesmin and Kirstin Petzer also gave poster presentation as part of the young scientist training. At the TRIATLAS conference and general assembly in Porto de Galinhas, Brazil from the 3rd to the 7th of October Serge Tomety, Founi Mesmin and Kirstin Petzer presented a poster on their latest work while Mathieu Rouault presented online. At the conference and general assembly new scientific work was presented and discussed from climate variability, extreme events and marine ecosystems and Fisheries in the Tropical and South Atlantic including social and economic impacts.
Franck and Roshin gave a talk on "Sea Level variability and change in the Tropical Atlantic at decadal time scale" at the “Oceans from Space 2022” from 24 - 28 October 2022 in Venice, Italy, which is the 5th event in a series that focuses on the use of aerospace technologies for marine research. They had the privilege to visit the mobile barriers from the protection of Venice from high tides in Venice, to get an insight into climate change adaptation.
Serge Tomety, Jenny Veitch, and Kirstin Petzer participated in the Eastern Boundary Upwelling System Open Science Conference held in Lima, Peru between the 19th and the 23rd of September. Dr. Serge Tomety presented an oral presentation on ‘Is the Benguela warming or cooling?’ Kirstin Petzer also presented an oral presentation on ‘Marine heatwaves in the Cape Peninsula Upwelling Cell’. There was a particular focus on the Humboldt Current System but topics related to dynamics, change, vulnerability, and the occurrence of extreme events were discussed. Kirstin Petzer was also able to attend the early career professionals’ workshop, where advice was given from professionals from around the world and from a range of fields.
Marjolaine Krug and Christo Whittle (first row) attended and presented at the GMES Southern Africa Regional Stakeholder Workshop on Earth Observation Technologies in Pretoria in September 2022
Franck Ghomsi and Jennifer Veitch, both members of the CLIVAR- Atlantic Regional Panel, attended the CLIVAR/GOOS/ICTP workshop, "From global to coastal: Cultivating new solutions and partnerships for an enhanced Ocean Observing System in a decade of accelerating change," from August 15 to August 17, 2022, in Trieste, Italy. In this workshop, scientists and leaders from observing systems, members of several CLIVAR panels, and invited speakers from developing rim nations discussed priorities and cross-cutting strategies as well as potential new collaborations for the development of the regional ocean observing systems. The workshop, which was approved as a project of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, was attended by 21 in-person participants and 36 online participants from 29 nations. Together with an on-spot group, Franck and Jennifer have submitted a project proposal to the WCRP that will match ocean scientists from developing nations (mentees) with experienced ocean scientists (mentors) based on a common goal. The goal is to promote new and fruitful collaborations that increase capacity and equality in ocean observing, ocean science and technology, and ocean forecasting while also fostering understanding and a strong network of ocean experts.
Graduation ceremony for Dr Serge Tomety. His wife and children came all the way from Togo to attend the ceremony.
Marek Ostrowski, Founi Mesmin Awo, Serge Tomety, Frank Ghomsi and Mathieu Rouault participated to the EXEBUS workshop animated by principla investigator and board member Neville Sweijd from June 23 to June 24, 2022 in Cape Town
Franck Ghomsi took part from 12 to 16 July 2022 at the WCRP Sea Level 2022 conference in Singapore. He presented a poster entitled: "Decadal Sea Level Variability in the Tropical Atlantic". The WCRP Sea Level 2022 Conference brought together a wide range of sea level scientists and practitioners in an innovative dialogue on the theme of 'Advancing Science, Connecting Society'. Experts included natural scientists, social scientists, coastal engineers, managers, and planners. They discussed the evidence that sea-level rise represents a major challenge for coastal societies, both in terms of increased risks and the need for adaptation to cope with these risks in many parts of the world. During the conference, Franck had good interactions with sea-level science experts such as Tong Lee and Thomas Frederikse from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Hindumathi K Palanisamy from the Centre for Climate Research Singapore, Rebekka Steffen from Lantmäteriet.
Together with this working group, they raised a theme that has been endorsed for sea level science information over the next decade: How can we maximize the value of sea level science and projection ranges (including low- and high-end estimates) for adaptation planning and bridge the gap between sea level science and practitioner needs?
At the Southern African Marine Science Symposium Tesha Toolsee and Kirstin Petzer presented their work. The conference took place in Durban between the 13th and the 17th of June 2022. Tesha presented on ‘Long Term Trends and Interannual Variability of Surface Hydrographic Conditions Around The Prince Edward Islands’. Kirstin presented ‘Marine heatwaves in the Cape Peninsula Upwelling Cell’. Kirstin also participated in the Marine Science Programmes in South Africa workshop representing the All-Atlantic Ocean Youth Ambassadors (AAOYA). In the workshop she was on a panel for an information session on Marine Science Programmes in South Africa and presented on the AAOYA-Blue schools ‘Bridging the Oceans’ Booklet
Hermann 'Harry' Luyt is from the northern suburbs of Cape Town. He has a background in Geoinformatics from the University of Stellenbosch and started his education in Oceanography with an MSc at the University of Cape Town where he is currently doing his PhD at the Nansen-Tutu Centre. His research is focussed on data assimilation in a regional ocean model of the Agulhas and Benguela Current Systems with the aim of improving operational capabilities in the region. Away from research, Harry enjoys reading, beer tasting, photography and surfing. Hermann did the cover page photo of the 2020 NTC report and started his PhD with two scientific cruises, one to the Antarctic.
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We have received the sad news that Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace prize laureate has died at age of 90. A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility has passed away. He campaigned peacefully against apartheid, chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994 and has worked tirelessly for peace in the world since his “retirement” as Archbishop of Cape Town.
In 2010, the University of Cape Town (UCT), the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway set up a joint venture. The venture, located at Department of Oceanography, UCT, was named the Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research in honour and respect of two men – a Norwegian and a South African – who have demonstrated extraordinary passion for the natural environment and humanity.
Many of us had the inspiring opportunity to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the inauguration of the Nansen-Tutu Centre in Cape Town in May 2010 ( photo above). His deep and inviting laughter was outstanding and signaled a man of welcoming warm, joy and curiosity. He manifested sincere concern for the changes in global climate and environment and their impact for society. The Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research focusses on studying the Indian, South Atlantic and Southern Oceans and their impact on climate, weather and the marine ecosystem surrounding southern Africa and the training of the next generation African scientists.
The 10-years anniversary symposium in March 2020 targeted Ocean, Weather and Climate Sciences to the Service for Society and brought together almost 100 researchers, postdoctoral fellows, PhD, and MSc students to Cape Town, South Africa. Attendants came from Cameroon, Mauritius, Togo, Benin, Namibia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Democratic republic of Congo South Africa, Ethiopia, France, Italy, Germany, Norway, Netherlands, United Kingdom and USA. Over the past 12 years the Nansen-Tutu Centre has gained numerous scientific achievements providing new knowledge about the ocean circulation surrounding Africa and the variability of African climate. This has been accomplished through research collaboration combined with training and supervision of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. All in all, this capacity building has included more than 50 exchange visits and contributed to 18 graduations of master students, 10 graduations of PhD students and supported 9 postdoctoral fellows. The Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research is greatly honoured to have the name of the joint venture associated with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It is highly inspiring and stimulates us to aim for the joint venture´s vision to “Serve Africa through advancing knowledge of the marine environment and climate system in the spirit of Nobel Peace Laureates Desmond Tutu and Fridtjof Nansen”.
Dr. Marjolaine Krug is the recipient of the 2021 Africa Award for Research Excellence in Ocean Sciences. This award was established in 2015 and is awarded annually by the American Geophysical Union. The expectations for this award include “significant original contributions to earth or ocean science research in Africa, excellence in research, student mentorship, acting as the main driver of the science when working in collaborative teams, and outstanding service and outreach to society.” Marjolaine is a physical oceanographer with expertise in satellite oceanography and ocean glider observations. Her research has focused on the dynamics and variability of the Agulhas Current as well as interactions between the Agulhas Current and the coastal and shelf regions. Read the all citation and Marjolaine answer and journey here. Marjolaine was also invited to contribute to a COP26 event entitled “Tracking ocean climate change and impacts on our fragile ocean”. A video can be accessed here. She was invited to be a panel member during the UN Ocean Decade Laboratory on a predicted ocean In September. She also convened and chaired one of the satellite activities of the UN Ocean Decade on “Designing Observing Systems for Ocean Boundaries”. This satellite laboratory event was one of the virtual activities undertaken as part of the OOPC Boundary System Task Team work. One of the main objective is to promote dialogues between the modelling and observing ocean communities towards improved ocean observing systems at ocean boundaries. All virtual meetings, presentations and webinars of the OOPC Boundary System Task Team are available here.
Tesha Toolsee from Mauritius was awarded her Master with distinction. She was advised by Tarron Lamont and Mathieu Rouault. Not only she submitted 6 months before the deadline she participated in the Marion Relief Voyage of 2021 where she received training in CTD operations and sampling around the Prince Edward Islands. She helped with the retrieval and deployment of two moorings on the inter-island shelf and also helped deploy surface drifters, spotters and Argo floats on the way to and back from Marion Island. She also managed to find the time to write a paper from her honor thesis already cited a couple of time. Toolsee, T, Lamont T., Ansorge A. and Rouault M. (2021). Characterising the seasonal cycle of wind forcing, surface circulation and temperature around the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands, African Journal of Marine Science. 43(1), pp.61-76.
Liisa Shangheta from Namibia was awarded her Master. She was advised by Isabelle Ansorge Tarron Lamont and Mathieu Rouault and made the UCT news. As reported bt the UCT news teamn she saw the sea for the first time at age 14, on holiday with friends who took her to Henties Bay, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. After the long journey west, Shangheta said, she became aware of a transition in the landscape: red sand dunes appeared, and beyond that, a ribbon of blue that stretched as far as she could see. And then came the smell of ozone off the ocean, or efuta, as the sea is called in her mother tongue, Oshikwanyama. “My tiny brain went ‘boom!’. It was just majestic. I was fascinated. I wanted to know why the waves continued breaking. What was happening here?” Read the all story here
After submitting her Master thesis in July 2021 (Master was actually passed with Distinction and thesis with minor corrections) physical oceanographer Sonia Heye is in Brest in France for two months to write a scientific paper with her French co-supervisor Pierrick Penven. After having completed her entire Masters thesis at home in isolation due to the covid pandemic, she is enjoying being back in an office and to be surrounded by other researchers and students. She is learning to work with the local servers and supercomputers and this trip is helping her to decide on the next steps in her scientific career. In the first week, she attended a conference in a nearby city, Roscoff. The hours at the office are very long and every day is getting colder with less daylight, but the beautiful nature of Brest is making it a very pleasant place to live. In her free time, Sonia goes on hikes, icy swims and trail runs and is enjoying the culture of Brittany. Sonia would like to thank all of her supervisors: Dr Marjolaine Krug, Prof Pierrick Penven, Mr Michael Hart-Davis and Prof Mathieu Rouault, for making this incredible opportunity possible. She said she has learned and grown a lot over the last two years and particularly during her stay in France. Sonia is looking forward to future visits to Brest to expand her knowledge and expertise within the physical oceanography field.
Physical Oceanography MSc student, Kirstin Petzer, participated in the voyage of the SA Agulhas II to Gough Island this September/October 2021. The SA Agulhas II departed from the Cape Town Harbour on the 15th of September 2021, after a two week isolation period. Before reaching Gough Island on the 23rd of September the voyage stopped Tristan da Cunha Island to supply cargo and exchange personal. On board the vessel, Kirstin Petzer assisted the South African Weather Service (SAWS) team operating ocean and atmospheric observations and a team from the University of Pretoria using water filtration to reveal insights into micro-organisms in the South Atlantic, such as viruses and bacteria.
While the Gough Island exchange of personal was on going, Kirstin lead the collection of kelp samples at different sites around the island. The purpose and significance for the collection of the samples is for genomic analysis into the kelp species Macrocystis Pyrifera (Giant Bladder Kelp) and Durvillaea Antarctica (Southern Bull Kelp). The samples collected will be used as a biological reference for kelp species around the Island but also as indication of the movement of kelp which may reach the subantarctic Islands
Kirstin Petzer (left)., master student at the Nansen Tutu Center, Dept of Oceanography was appointed All-Atlantic Ocean Youth Ambassadors, and will be will be working hard to expand awareness of the Atlantic Ocean and its important role as a sustainable resource and climate regulator. This initiative is part of the All-Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance (AANCHOR) project, which intersects the suite of European Union Atlantic projects. AANCHOR links initiatives in the European Union, Canada and the United States, and was launched with the signing of the Galway Statement in 2013.
Former alumni Dr. Arielle Stela Imbol Nkwinkwa NJouado. was featured in a publication that celebrates African female scientists on the front line of climate change science, profiling 20 women from 9 African countries. Her story is found in page 9 of the pdf.
Congratulation.
An MSc student in Physical Oceanography from the Coastal and Marine Research Institute at Nelson Mandela University and Nansen Tutu Center graduate, Michael Hart-Davis, is the recipient of the prestigious S2A3 Masters Medal. Michael isthe first Physical Oceanographic Masters student to win the award. The S2A3 Masters’ Medalshave been awarded since 1981 by the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science to the most outstanding research student. Founded in 1902, it is the oldest scientific organisation in South Africa. Michael began his MSc thesis in January 2018 and submitted his final thesis in August 2019. He completed two scientific publications, as a result of his original research, with a further two publications currently in review. After graduation in late 2019, Michael accepted a PhD position at the Technical University of Munich in Germany where he continues to collaborate with South African colleagues. Michael’s thesis was based on the development of a particle trajectory model for the use in several scientific applications in the Agulhas Current System. The scientific applications presented in his thesis included case studies advancing the understanding of surface ocean dynamics, studying the trajectories of sea turtles as well as juvenile lobster larvae and the development of search and rescue tools. During his Masters’ studies, Michael spent time in Bergen, Norway where he built collaborations at the University of Bergen and NERSC. His time in Bergen proved to be extremely beneficial and included presenting several seminars, attending lectures at the university and resulted in several international publications. Dr Bjorn Backeberg, who has supervised Michael since his undergraduate years in 2015, says “Michael has made incredible progress since we first started working together. He has demonstrated a remarkable ability to understand complex scientific problems and address these by overcoming some really technical challenges. It has been a real pleasure working with him, and I have no doubt that he will continue to contribute significantly to marine and ocean science in the future.”
Michael would like to thank his supervisors Dr Bjorn Backeberg, Prof Juliet Hermes, A/Prof Mostafa Bakhoday-Paskyabi and Prof Johnny Johannessen as well as the Nelson Mandela University, Nansen-Tutu Center, SAEON and the NRF for funding
The celebration of the Nansen-Tutu Center 10-year anniversary brought together around 80 researchers, Postdoctoral fellows, PhD and MSc students for a 3-days symposium on the Waterfront in Cape Town from 10-12 March 2020. Attendants came from Namibia, Mozambique, Madagascar, South Africa, Ethiopia, France, Italy, Germany, Norway, Netherlands and USA. University of Cape Town, the Nansen Center, Nansen Scientific Society, University of Bergen, Institute of Marine Research, Research Council of Norway are acknowledged for their financial support. The Symposium was endorsed by CLIVAR The symposium (https://www.nansentutusymposium.com) focused on “Ocean, Weather and Climate: Science to the Service of Society” . The level of the presentations was very impressive and early career scientists from the African continent demonstrated high scientific quality of their work in a multitude of ocean, atmosphere and climate related disciplines with significant importance to societies in southern Africa. The event also included a signatory ceremony marking the launch of the 4th 3-year phase of the Nansen-Tutu Center Joint Venture Agreement from 2020 to 2022. A take-home message for the continuation into the 4th phase recommended that the Nansen-Tutu Center should play a coordinating role to initiate a training workshop for early career scientists targeting the UN Decade of Ocean Science for the sustainable development goals and to help to the development of Operational Oceanography in Southern Africa.
The Nansen Tutu TRIATLAS Summer School on Ocean, Climate and Marine Ecosystem was held at the University of Cape Town, 14-21st, January. It was a resounding success, with the participating students and early career researchers asking for new opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange. We brought together master, PhD and early career researchers together from physical and biological oceanography, and from climate research, from Brazil, Africa, and Europe. The summer school served to imitate many into the exciting field of interdisciplinary research, as needed to solve the major challenges facing the Atlantic - management of human activities impact the marine ecosystem. This is the issue being addressed by the EU H2020 TRIATLAS project. Pdf from students presentations and lectures is available online here
Marie-Lou and Serge visited Bergen for two months at NERSC. Marie-Lou worked with Annette Samuelsen within the NERSC Ocean Modelling Group on developing a new parametrisation for the biogeochemical model BioEBUS. The purpose of Serge’s visit to NERSC was to complete his PhD project on decadal variability of the Benguela Upwelling System using the output from Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM) run at NERSC by Yanchun. Marie-Lou and Serge met the Norwegian Minister of International Development, Dag-Inge Ulstein at NERSC (see attached picture1). During the meeting there were presentations and discussion about the international collaboration with the different international centers connected to the Nansen Centre. Marie-Lou and Serge gave a Seminar. During they stay, they also had the opportunity to travel around Norway. Marie-Lou went North to see the polar lights and Serge attended two days PhD retreat organized by Noel Keenlyside’s student group where he had interesting discussion about his work and good moment of skiing. They are extremely grateful to Annette for hosting them. Also, Serge would like to thank Yanchun He, Francois Counillon, Noel Keenlyside and Shunya Koseki.
Georges-Noel Longandjo is organizing the first International Conference on Central Africa Climate and Hydrology at Universite Nouveaux Horizons, Lubumbashi, Dem. Rep. Congo on 24-25 October 2019. The goals of this event are to to bring together researchers working worldwide on Central Africa weather, Climate, Hydrology and Water resources; to foster research and education projects in this understudied region and to share the results of this activities with policy makers, practitioners and development partners and communities. Prior to the events Georges-Noel Longandjo and other experts were invited by the World meteorological Organization (WMO) to help the national government of the Dem. Rep. Congo to enhance the climate science basis of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) activities.
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Founi Mesmin Awo was invited by Marek Ostrowski IMR to present his work and attend the FAO Nansen Program workshop in Abidjan in October 2019
Sian Seymour and Mathieu Rouault attended the 35th Annual South African Society for Atmospheric Sciences (SASAS) Conference was held at Riverside Sun in Vanderbijlpark on 8-9 October 2019. The theme for this conference was “Climate meets Agriculture – The Interplay”. The conference was both stimulating and informative, with a wonderful array of international keynote speakers and invited speakers. Mathieu Rouault and Anicet Imbol Koungue from NTC and co-author won the Stanly Jackson Award for best published paper in 2018 for Rouault, M., Illig, S., Lübbecke, J. and Koungue, R.A.I., 2018. Origin, development and demise of the 2010–2011 Benguela Niño. Journal of Marine Systems. It is now the fourth time in a raw that the NTC wins the Award
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Michael Hart-Davis was awarded his master Cum Laude with distinction for his theises : Developing ocean particle tracking tools for cross-disciplinary oceanic research with applications in the Agulhas Current region. Avisor were Dr Bjorn Backeberg (NTC), Associate Prof Mostafa Bakhoday-Paskyabi (NERSC / UIB), Prof Juliet Hermes(SAEON,UCT) and Prof Johnny Johannessen (NERSC/UiB).
Mathieu Rouault went to Bergen early September to discuss the new phase 3 Nansen Tutu Center agreement with the Norwegians NTC board members and sponsors and the NTC Norwegians director Annette Samuelsen. More funding will now be available for three years from 2010 onwards from NERSC, IMR and UiB. The 10 anniversary symposium was also discussed. He also attended the EU2020 TRIATLAS project kick off meeting which will federate the effort of the NTC in the Agulhas Benguela Angola Current systems and provide additional resources, funding and opportunity for NTC students and researcher to participate to an exiting multidisciplinary International project, attend related summer school and participate to the annual science workshops.
Michael Hart-Davis just returned from a visit to Bergen, where he was based at NERSC and the University of Bergen from the 14th of January to the 28th of August. The purpose of Mike’s visit was to complete his Master’s thesis under the supervision of A/Prof Mostafa Bakhoday-Paskyabi and Prof Johnny Johannessen and attend Numerical Modelling classes at the Geophysical Institute of the University of Bergen. During his time in Europe, Mike also attended an EPOS-N Workshop in Bergen where he got to learn about and use a research infrastructure designed for European solid Earth science. During this workshop, Mike got to interact with people in the Earth science community from all over northern Europe. Mike also went to Amsterdam where he met with his supervisor Dr Björn Backeberg and presented a presentation entitled “Lagrangian Ocean Search Targets”. Mike took his opportunity in Europe to visit the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he built relationships with scientists in the satellite altimetry field, particularly Prof Florian Seitz and Dr Marcello Passaro. Through his travel to the TUM, Mike introduced and discussed the current research being done in South Africa and at the Nansen-Tutu Center.
Georges-Noel Longandjo visited NCAR in the USA and attented the workshop on Community Earth System Model on 5-9 August 2019
Hermann Luyt just returns from Bergen
Hermann Luyt just returned from a visit to Bergen where he was situated at NERSC from 9 May to 5 August. The purpose of his visit to NERSC was for close supervision from Dr François Counillon for his PhD work, including setting up and running a data assimilation scheme in a regional HYCOM model of the South African coastline. During his time abroad, Hermann also attended the Data Assimilation Summer School in Timisoara, Romania, from 22 July to 2 August. The summer school covered both the theoretical background of data assimilation as well as some of its applications. Both Drs Laurent Bertino and François Counillon from NERSC lectured at the summer school. Hermann is extremely grateful for the opportunity to work closely with François in Bergen and for the opportunity to attend the summer school. He sincerely thanks those who made it possible for him.
Congratulation to Sian Seymour and her advisor Marjolaine Krug for graduating with distinction for her Master. We will make her thesis “SAR high resolution wind speed” in False Bay available on the web site soon. Also, congratulation to Bernardino Nhantumbo for being awarded his PhD on Sea level variability around South Africa. Advisor were Bjorn Backeberg and Dr. Jan Even Nilsen.
Bafana Gweba visited the Ocean Physics and Satellite oceanography lab (LOPS) at the Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM, Brest, France) hosted by Dr Pierrick Penven (IRD) from the 18th of June to 14th of July 2019. The purpose of the visit was to get collaboration and help about his studies which focus on the interactions between waves and currents in the Agulhas Current region using numerical models and satellite observations. During this visit, he attended the 8th edition of “Observing and Modelling ocean waves” summer school given in Brest from 27th of June to 5th of July 2019. During this workshop, he got a chance of engaging with other fellow attendees . He also met Dr Farbice Collard from Ocean Data Lab who agreed to be my co-supervisor. Bafana will be going back from September to December 2019.
From 15 to 19 July 2019, Folly Serge Tomety attended the ICTP-CLIVAR Summer School on Oceanic Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems. Held in Trieste, Italy, the summer school is jointly organised by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics and the CLIVAR Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems Research Foci. This research school aims to summarize the current state of scientific understanding of EBUSs and discuss how to elaborate a strategy to improve observations and theoretical understanding of the main physical and biogeochemical processes that link planetary and basin scales with regional scale.Additionally, about 35 participants from different countries presented their research work. Serge took this opportunity to discuss his work with Thomas Toniazzo from Bergen, Alban Lazar and Paquita Zuidema. The courses have mainly explored the importance and critical processes of the EBUSs including their historical variability; the processes controlling the atmospheric dynamics, role of submesoscale for biogeochemistry and ecology and link between large scale climate processes and EBUSs. Lighter note, we had a welcome reception at ICTP Adriatico guest house and attended the ICTP social event “From Africa to ASIA”. At the end of the school, Serge visited Venice.
Welcome to our new member Founi
Dr Founi Mesmin AWO is a new post-doctoral fellow of the NT Center. He is from Benin. He obtained a PhD in physical oceanography, on the dynamics and the impacts of the tropical Atlantic climate modes, from the Paul Sabatier University of Toulouse in France and the University of Abomey Calavi in Benin. His research has been involved in the European PREFACE (enhancing PREdiction oF tropical Atlantic ClimatE and its impacts) program, which aimed to improve our understanding of variability in the tropical Atlantic. He will study the Impact of Benguela Niños and Congo River on the marine ecosystem in colaboration with Mrek Ostowski from IMR, a topic of international interest with societal implication. It is also part of the new International Horizon 20/20 TRIATLAS project. Dr F. M AWO will also assist in the training of master and PhD students of the NT center and be in charge of data.
The ongoing process of motivating a oceanographic cruise around Madagascar by Juliano
In September 2018, Juliano visited the Institute Marine Research (IMR), a focal point for the FAO-Nansen program, and Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC). The purpose of the trip was for presenting work he has been involved in publishing using the Dr Fridtjof Nansen data operated around Madagascar. The objective of the presentation was to motivate the FAO-Nansen program to invest more in the south-west Indian Ocean in terms of oceanographic campaigns.
Six months later, Juliano returned to spend two months, i.e. from March to April 2019, in Bergen Norway. Through this visit, Juliano sought to exploit the existing Dr Fridtjof Nansen data collected in the vicinity of the south of Madagascar, in order to again demonstrate that the cruise hydrographic measurement program can contribute significantly to resolving oceanographic mysteries occurring in the region. The study investigated the East Madagascar Retroflection behaviour (which remains unresolved at present), using mainly a compilation of Ship-mounted ADCP data from several cruises particularly from Dr Fridtjof Nansen program, and highlighted the local and the regional impact of the retroflection. The work has been done through collaboration between IMR and NERSC scientists.
Targeting a large audience working in the Indian Ocean rim and the FAO funders, Juliano also participated in the 11th Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) symposium where he delivered an oral presentation and facilitated a panel discussion to raise awareness about and emphasize the need for Madagascar to be supported in collecting cruise data sets as much as possible for physical oceanography purposes which may have a local, regional and perhaps a worldwide impact.
Afterall, the job of a scientist does not always remain of as being only a researcher, but sometimes it requires more that we can afford!!!
Below: Juliano’s presentation during WIOMSA special session. Presentation title: “How and Where the East Madagascar Current originates?
Johnny Johannessen from NERSC visited for a week to teach operational oceanography and satellite remotes sensing while Marek Ostrowski from IMR spent a day at the Nansen Tutu Center on his way to a cruise.
Between the 6th and 8th of May, Michael Hart-Davis attended the EGI Conference on Advanced Cloud Computing in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Alongside being exposed to the international cloud computing community, Michael presented his tool and website that he has developed with Dr Björn Backeberg. The tool known as LOST, Lagrangian Ocean Search Targets, is a global search and rescue tool that is designed to be used by search and rescue authorities as well as the general public to assess the trajectory of different objects in the ocean. Michaels presentation received good and exciting feedback from members of the conference which should foster a strong collaboration with the cloud computing community.
Marjolaine Krug attended the World Ocean Circulation (WOC) user consulation meeting, Frascati, Italy, February 2019, the GCOS Joint Panels Meeting, emcompassing OOPC-22, Marrakesh, Morocco, March 2019 and the annual Meetings of the IIOE-2 Steering Committee, IOGOOS, IORP, SIBER ,IRF & IOCINDIO, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, March 2019 before going to Durban to recover the glides of the SAGE 2019 experiment
Marie-Lou Bachèlery went to the EGU General Assembly 2019 in Vienna, Austria from the 7th to the 12th April 2019. She gave an oral presentation on the “Impacts and characteristics of the interannual Coastal Trapped Waves in the Angola-Benguela Upwelling System”, a work done in collaboration with Serena Illig and Mathieu Rouault. She also co-convened a PICO session entitled “Tropical & Subtropical Ocean Circulation, Equatorial to Mid-Latitude Air-Sea Interactions” along with Alban Lazar (Convener - Sorbonne Université, LOCEAN-IPSL), Peter Brandt (GEOMAR), Noel Keenlyside (University of Bergen, Geophysical Institute) and Ingo Richter (JAMSTEC). The EGU is an international conference joining more than 15,000 researchers from 113 countries. It’s a perfect occasion to meet with collaborators, partners and experts in the scientific community.
A Graduation ceremony was held in Cape Town. Congratulation to Arielle Stela Nkwinkwa Njouado who got her PhD and Jason O'Connor and Liisa Shangheta who got their B.Sc with Honours.
Professors Asgeir Sørensen and Martin Ludvigsen from the Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems based in Trondheim, Norway visited the Nansen Tutu center after a visit to PE for the SANOCEAN Launch Conference. Trondheim
Welcome Dr. Annette Samuelsen, our new Norwegian director. She is an oceanographer who is working with application and development of physical-biological models, including biogeochemical models, passive particle tracking studies and individual based models. Her research combines the model results with both in-situ and remotely sensed observations with the aim of studying the interaction between physical ocean processes and the marine ecosystems, the interaction between mesoscale eddies and the marine ecosystem is something finds particularly interesting. She has been employed at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre since 2005 where she has also been involved with developing operational oceanography applications for couple physical-biological models, this is now used as part of the CMEMS forecast for the Arctic. Since 2016 she has lead of the Ocean Modeling group at NERSC, which also collaborated with the Nansen Tutu Centre on the HYCOM modeling activity in the Agulhas region.
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Welcome to our new research Associate Jenny. Dr Jennifer Veitch is a physical oceanographer who uses numerical models as a tool to better understand ocean processes that are difficult to observe in a cohesive way using in situ or satellite data. Her area of expertise is the Benguela system, from the Angola-Benguela Frontal Zone at its northern boundary to the Goodhope Jet at its southern. Jennifer has recently been appointed as a numerical modeller for a newly established initiative, funded by the Deaprtment of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and implemented by the South African Environmtenal Observation Network (SAEON), to promote transformative capacity building and development in ocean modelling in South Africa. In parallel to this, the vision is to produce an operational ocean modelling system for the South African coastline that will provide realtime information to various stakeholders.
Dr Halo from the department of conservation and marine science at CPUT, and currently research associate of the Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research, was invited to attend a high level panel on "Building a Sustainable Ocean Economy" initiated by the Norwegian Prime Minister and comprising 13 Heads of Government and State and involving the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Special Envoy for the Ocean. The objective was to leverage collective and effective action by the international community, including the UN, regional bodies, governments and private business, in response to global challenges and opportunities, along 6 main axis of research: (1) Impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems; (2) Ocean health; (3) State of fisheries resources; (4) Sustainable aquaculture; (5) Importance of seafood for human nutrition and (6) Future sustainable use of ocean biological resources. During the Oceans to Action meeting Dr. Halo moderated the table discussions of "Actions Points" compiled by the rapporteurs. Dr Halo then visited the Institute of Marine Research, and the Nansen Environmental Remote Sensing Centre (NERSC). During his visit to NERSC, he had several collaboration meetings with NERSC scientists and nearly finalized the writing-up of two joint research papers.
Bellinda Monyela and Belinda Nhesvure took part in the 4th Department of Science and Technology (DST) Global Change Conference hosted by University of Limpopo at Polokwane from the 3rd to 6th of December 2018. The theme of the conference was termed “Sustainable futures through science and innovation”. Bellinda Monyela presented her poster on Non El Nino drought in Southern Africa at the main conference while Belinda Nhesvure delivered an oral presentation on the impact of El Nino on coastal South African ocean e at the Alliance for Collaboration on Climate and Earth Systems Science (ACCESS) side event.
The annual Nansen Tutu Center students' presentations morning was held at UCT on the 2 of November prior to the board meeting. Program can be found here. On the 1 of November Johnny Johannessen and Issufo Halo organized a one day workshop for the visit of a delegation of the Norwegian Ministry of Science and technology at CPUT. Program can be found here
