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Supplementary material to “Investigating the Global Impacts of the Agulhas Current”
23 March 2010
Rainer Zahn, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
Johann Lutjeharms, Department of Oceanography, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
Arne Biastoch, Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften (IFM-GEOMAR), Kiel, Germany
Ian Hall, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Gregor Knorr, Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
Wonsun Park, Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften (IFM-GEOMAR), Kiel, Germany
Chris Reason, Department of Oceanography, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
Citation:
Zahn, R., J. Lutjeharms, A. Biastoch, I. Hall, G. Knorr, W. Park, and C. Reason (2010), Investigating the global impacts of the Agulhas Current, Eos Trans. AGU, 91(12), 109–110. [Full Article (pdf)]
GATEWAYS
Multi-Level Assessment of Ocean-Climate Dynamics: a Gateway to Interdisciplinary Training and Analysis
http://www.gateways.eu
Project Overview and Objectives
A most pressing topic in climate research relates to the stability of Earth's climate and its future development under a continued human influence. GATEWAYS sets out to define the sensitivity of a specific part of the global climate, an ocean current system that is directly connected with ocean and climate developments: The Agulhas Current around South Africa, as a case study to conduct interdisciplinary climate change research and training.
The GATEWAYS research and training integrates three main disciplines: ocean observations and processes, ocean and climate reconstructions, and numerical modelling. The central research objective of the project is to test (1) the sensitivity of the Agulhas Current to changing climates of the past, (2) the Current's influence on southern Africa climates, including weather systems and rain fall patterns, (3) buoyancy transfer to the Atlantic by Agulhas leakage around southern Africa, and (4) the sensitivity of the Atlantic ocean overturning circulation to variable Agulhas leakage.
The central training objective of the GATEWAYS project is to provide 15 Early-Stage (ESR) and 3 Experienced Researchers (ER) with mixed scientific and complementary skills training aimed at (1) global change research with a focus on ocean-atmosphere-climate linking, (2) quantifying parameters and processes relevant to climatic developments and projections, and (3) the skills needed to organize and conduct interdisciplinary research and communicate across the academic and private sectors. The analytical training combines proven methods with state-of-the-art novel methodologies involving high-end analytical equipment such as isotope-ratio and multi-sector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers. Numerical modelling entails high-resolution ocean and atmosphere models including accessing supercomputing facilities at national high-performance computing centres. These components, and the scientific expertise converging in the Network provides the ESR and ER with outstanding opportunities for research training. The project-specific training is complemented by schools, workshops and courses that are woven around the expertise available from the Network partners.
ESRs and ERs leaving the GATEWAYS project have acquired a solid knowledge in their own specialty field of research; a firm interdisciplinary grounding in the marine and climate sciences; proficiency in state-of-the-art analytical laboratory-based procedures and numerical data processing and modelling; managerial skills enabling them to design and carry out research in an efficient and pragmatic way. This provides them with a competitive standing in the international research arena which benefits their onward carrier progression.
Partners and Participanting Organisations
Rainer Zahn (project coordinator), Lukas Jonkers, Gianluca Marino, Graham Mortyn, Leonie Smith, Patrizia Ziveri, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain; http://www.uab.cat/icta
Ian Hall, Gregor Knorr, Martin Ziegler, Cardiff University, School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Cardiff, United Kingdom; http://www.earth.cardiff.ac.uk/
Arne Biastoch, Jonathan Durgadoo, Wonsun Park, Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at the Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany; http://www.ifm-geomar.de/
Geert-Jan Brummer, Stefan Schouten, Marcel van der Meer, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research - NIOZ, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands; http://www.nioz.nl
Frank Peeters, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Section Marine Biogeology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Netherlands; http://www.geo.vu.nl
Kerstin Braun, Mira Bar-Matthews, Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel; http://www.gsi.gov.il/
Obasias Cossa, Ben Loveday, Johann Lutjeharms, Chris Reason, University of Cape Town, Department of Oceanography, Cape Town, South Africa; http://www.sea.uct.ac.za
Ralph Schneider, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Department of Geoscience, Kiel, Germany; http://www.ifg.uni-kiel.de
Manfred Mudelsee, Kristín Björg Ólafsdóttir, Climate Risk Analysis, Hannover, Germany; http://www.mudelsee.com
Associated Partners
Joachim Biercamp, Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum GmbH, Hamburg, Germany; http://www.dkrz.de/
Kerstin Braun, Alan Matthews, The Fredy and Nadine Herrman Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; http://earth.huji.ac.il/
Christian Gmünder, Simultec AG Environmental Consulting, Hardturmstrasse 261, CH-8005 Zürich, Switzerland; data base development, http://www.simultec.ch
Andy Hoque, L-up SAS, 32 Avenue de Friedland, F-75008 Paris, France; project management, http://www.l-up.com
Kristín Björg Ólafsdóttir, Michael Schulz, MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany; http://www.marum.de
Rene Redler, Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Ocean in the Earth System, Hamburg, Germany; http://www.mpimet.mpg.de
Daniel Stateczny, Oliver Hanstein, IT-Bo Internet Developer, Lamp'lweg 4, D- 22767 Hamburg, Germany; http://www.IT-Bo.com
Project Coordination Office, Inquiries
Anna Ripoll Piñol, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici Cn - Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola), Spain; email pr.gateways.itn@uab.cat, http://www.gateways.eu
Acknowledgments
A Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN), Sponsored by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Community
Reference
Gordon, A. L. (2003), The brawniest retroflection, Nature, 421, 904–905.