Capacity Building for Global Ocean Observations - Training Early Career Scientists at Sea; RV Polarstern as an Open Ocean teaching platform

Peter L Croot, iCRAG (Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences), Earth and Ocean Sciences, School of Natural Sciences and Ryan Institute, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland, Eva-Maria Brodte, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Helgoland, Germany, Peter Lemke, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany and Karen Wiltshire, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, List/Sylt, Germany
Abstract:
The 2019 South North Atlantic Training Transect (SoNoAT) expedition onboard the RV Polarstern (PS120) was an international post-graduate training expedition which introduced students from over 20 countries to research in Ocean, Atmosphere and Climate Interactions and the UN SDGs via hands-on training performed on an ocean going research vessel (RV. Polarstern) during the 5 week transect from Port Stanley in the Falklands to Bremerhaven. SoNoAT and the earlier NoSoAT expeditions (2015, 2016) are a joint cooperation between the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), the National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway), the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO), the Nippon Foundation and the EU project AtlantOS.

In 2019 there were 796 applications for the 25 positions available. Prior to the commencement of the shipboard training, a bilingual workshop on “Global Ocean Observations” was held in Punta Arenas, Chile at the Universidad de Magallanes, where the SoNoAT scholars were joined by local Chilean post-graduate students. The opportunity was also taken to run specialist short courses for the Chilean students on the analysis of time series data, using Ocean Data View, satellite detection of Patagonian dust and microplastics in the ocean. The SoNoAT scholars undertook longer versions of these modules while at sea. Work on board was focused on practical applications of research techniques, supplemented with lectures, exercises and student presentations. The participants received at sea training in the deployment and operation of scientific gear, acquisition and processing of the sample material and analysis and interpretation of the collected data in real time, including deploying ARGO floats, XBTs along with CTD operations and remote sensing data. This presentation will introduce the concept of the SoNoAT program and show how it might be exported to other ocean regions.

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