eNews

#05 2023

New Centre aims to generate knowledge and solutions for the ocean-climate nexus

By Dr Jennifer Veitch, Numerical Modeller (SAEON), SOMISANA lead

Drs Jennifer Veitch and Tamaryn Morris of SAEON’s Egagasini Node travelled to Qingdao, China in September to attend the launch of the UN Ocean Decade Collaborative Centre for Ocean-Climate Nexus and Coordination (DCC-OCC) among decade implementing partners in China. The event served as the focal point for several satellite meetings that took place in parallel, in which both of them participated. 

The DCC-OCC is led by the Ministry of Natural Resources (China) and jointly sponsored by the First Institute of Oceanography (FIO) and a number of other institutes. The Centre endeavours to coordinate global scientific and technological innovation cooperation in the field of oceans and climate under the framework of the Ocean Decade.

The launch event was attended by local and international researchers, various government officials, the Marine Policy and Regional Coordination team of IOC/UNESCO (International Oceanographic Commission/the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the acting director of GOOS (Global Ocean Observing System) and the leads of the other Decade Collaborative Centres. The event launched not only the DCC-OCC, but also a low-cost drifting buoy developed at the Florida Institute of Oceanography and a turbulent mixing scheme developed by Professor Fangli Qiao, a senior scientist of physical oceanography and the Deputy Director-General of the First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources of China.

Launch of the new turbulent mixing scheme developed by Professor Fangli Qiao

Ocean to Climate Seamless Forecasting System (OSF): first general assembly 

Connected with the DCC-OCC is the UN-endorsed OSF System led by the First Institute of Oceanography, with collaborators all over the world. The overarching objective is to provide knowledge of ocean and climate for governments and management agencies as the base to make policy decisions, which depend on a number of subprojects that include developments in in-situ observations, developments in satellite observations, model research and development, new generation models, the development of early warning systems, downstream applications, communication, coordination and capacity development.  Each of these projects is led by various international partners.

In addition, OSF-Africa has been established, with the specific aim of developing parallel activities within Africa. Together with KM Azam Chowdhury from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, Jennifer Veitch is the co-principal investigator of the Downstream Applications project of this programme, for which she presented the objectives and implementation plan to the OSF general assembly. At this meeting the OSF programme objectives for each project were fine-tuned, which will be released in final form in the coming months.

BRICS ‘PARADIGM’ project first face-to-face meeting 

The BRICS PARADIGM project members took this opportunity to have their first face-to-face meeting. ‘PARADIGM’ stands for ‘A Predicted Ocean: Roadmap and Demonstration of model validation, intercomparisons and applications for sustainable management of the coastal ocean’.

BRICS ‘PARADIGM’ partners at the first face-to-face meeting in Qingdao, China, September 2023. From left: Fangli Qiao (China), Jennifer Veitch (South Africa), Mauro Cirano (Brazil), Roman Sedakov (Russia) and PN Vinayachadran (India)

The partner principal investigators are Mauro Cirano (Brazil), Fangli Qiao with Changshui Xiacs (China), Roman Sedakov (Russia) and PN Vinayachadran (India). This project rests on the foundation of two main themes: (1) validation, intercomparison and applications of global forecast systems; and (2) capacity building, with the overarching outcome being enhanced operational systems for societal benefit and for improved governance of ocean resources.

Theme (1) will focus on developing a framework of standards and best practices, with common metrics and methodologies for validating global forecast systems, thus providing an absolute validation for BRICS nations. This will provide the baseline from which applications, including downscaled regional forecast systems, can be developed for societal benefit.

Theme (2) will focus on regional training workshops to develop sustained human capacity to ensure that all nations have the capability of contributing to the ‘Predicting the Global Coastal Ocean’ goal of the CoastPredict programme. All the BRICS nations are represented within this call: some are far more advanced in their forecast modelling initiatives than others and will be instrumental in developing the training courses (China, India, Brazil).

All nations will contribute to the model intercomparison and validation framework, by developing metrics and methodologies and using datasets that partners may not have access to. To ensure sustained numerical model development, South Africa will develop local training courses to develop both capacity and new collaborations in historically disadvantaged institutes.

At this meeting each of the five partners shared what has been achieved toward this project so far. That includes a training workshop held in China in July 2023, one that was being prepared for Cape Town and a number of ocean modelling activities that includes the development of ocean forecasts for key locations around the South African coastline as part of the SOMISANA initiative.  Future plans were also discussed that included joint publications and workshops, the identification of pilot sites for downscaled ocean forecast models and shared metrics for validation of global forecast systems.

The ocean model development and capacity development that will continue to take place under the auspices of this project over the next two years promise to contribute to the establishment of a critical mass of numerical ocean modelling experts within South Africa, who provide actionable information about the state of the ocean to support coastal resilience.

Tammy Morris gave two presentations on the enhancement of ocean observations for Africa through a series of dedicated workshops in 2024 and 2025 in the build up to OceanObs’29 and ensuring no country is left behind (Photo: Prof Fangli Qiao)

Jennifer Veitch presenting the objectives and implementation plan to the OSF general assembly (Photo: Prof Fangli Qiao)

Ocean observations

Prior to the DCC-OCC launch, the Global Ocean Summit took place at the Qingdao Convention Centre, which included the launch of the OceanObs’29 Planning Team. SAEON’s Tammy Morris gave two presentations on the enhancement of ocean observations for Africa through a series of dedicated workshops in 2024 and 2025 in the build up to OceanObs’29 and ensuring no country is left behind.

These two presentations were well received not only by the host institution and delegates, but also by the numerous African delegates in attendance, including Prof Affian who is the IOC Africa Chairperson. The next step for this initiative is to develop a curriculum and find funding, hosts and venues in four locations in Africa – north, south, east and west – to launch the series of workshops in 2024 and 2025.

Thereafter, at the DCC-OCC launch, Tammy Morris presented on the GOOS (Global Ocean Observing System) Co-Design Boundary Currents exemplar project, of which Tammy is the co-lead. She interacted with a number of boundary current experts from China and Taiwan on lessons learned, infrastructure best suited for studying such dynamic ocean observing systems and future collaborations.

There were also interesting discussions around cross-exemplar ideas (such as boundary currents, marine heatwaves and tropical cyclones) and the development of low-cost sensors, all of which can be applied to the boundary current work the SAEON Egagasini Node is looking to do in both our Western Boundary Current, the Agulhas, and our Eastern Boundary Current, the Benguela.

The ocean model development and capacity development that will continue to take place under the auspices of this project over the next two years promise to contribute to the establishment of a critical mass of numerical ocean modelling experts within South Africa, who provide actionable information about the state of the ocean to support coastal resilience.