Scientific Program
Format and Schedule
The conference will span five days with plenary morning session of invited and contributed talks. Afternoons are off for (organized) activities to stimulate informal exchange and discussions. At the end of each afternoon an invited talk will be followed by a poster session. On Wednesday there is a morning program of group discussion sessions with reporting over dinner.
The meeting will have 4 main thematic sessions and a large discussion session. Each thematic session is related to a leading scientific question. These questions are:
- What are the main circulation and transport features of the greater Agulhas System?
- What are the effects of Agulhas system variability on regional weather, climate, bio-physical interactions, marine ecosystems and fisheries?
- What is the impact of Agulhas Retroflection and Leakage on large-scale ocean circulation and climate?
- What are the physical mechanisms that link the Agulhas system to changes in ocean circulation and climate?
The thematic sessions will include invited and contributed papers. The sessions will be interdisciplinary and combine presentations of the modern observations, paleoceanographic reconstructions and numerical modeling communities. Open discussion sessions will be devoted to uncertainties, possible Agulhas indices and future directions in modeling and (sustained) observational programs.
Fields of Interest
Oceanography, climate science, paleoceanography, paleo-climatology, ocean and climate modeling, marine ecology (including fisheries, bio-physical interactions), satellite remote sensing, non-linear dynamics.
Participants and guests will be drawn from the general oceanography and climate communities, the African region and from scientists and Ph.D. students associated with the SCOR WG 136 and ongoing and future programs: ASCLME, GATEWAYS, INATEX, GOOD HOPE, ACT, SAMOC, CLIMATCH, MASMA, CLIVAR IO and ATLANTIC, WIO-RISE: Western Indian Ocean Regional Initiative. We also expect participation from high resolution modeling groups from around the world that are becoming aware of the global impact of the processes in the Agulhas region. Invited will also be representatives from NOAA, IOC, ONR, NSF, NWO.
Poster Presentation Guidelines
Information regarding poster dimensions and presentation guidelines will be posted once they've been established.