The Nansen Tutu Centre was first founded in 2010 and since 2016 Mathieu Rouault has been its co-director and Professor in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Cape Town. He held the NRF SARChI Chair in Ocean-Atmosphere Modelling. Prof Rouault’s research encompassed a broad spectrum of ocean-atmosphere interaction including numerical modelling, experimental work at sea, meteorology, physical oceanography, climatology, and the impact of climate change and variability on marine ecosystems and water resource. His specific interest was in the impact and interplay of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Benguela Niño mechanisms and the Agulhas Current on southern African weather and climate, in the context of climate variability and change. Very sadly he unexpectedly passed away on the 17th January 2023 just days after returning from the One Ocean Expedition sail voyage onboard the tall ship Statsråd Lehmkuhl surveying the Agulhas Current and the adjacent shelf seas from Maputo (Mozambique) to Cape Town (South Africa). In November 2023 we will host a two-day symposium in memory of Prof. Rouault´s valuable contribution and extreme passion to the marine and climate sciences and services.

Prof_M_Rouault
Nansen Tutu Centre Logo

The symposium will focus on the following 3 topics:

Topic 1: Air-sea interactions and influences on climate on land. 

Topic 2: Ocean processes and dynamics from mesoscale to large scale.

Topic 3: Biogeochemistry, marine ecosystems, and physical-biological interactions.

We welcome presentations that target the greater Agulhas Current region and neighboring shelf seas and that are model-based, observational or both spanning timescales from daily to decadal, in the past, present, and future.

 

We hope that many of you will be able to join and share your research!