My POGO-SCOR Fellowship experience

By Jethan d’Hotman, ASCA Officer, SAEON Egagasini Node Tweet

The Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO) and Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) have been offering a jointly funded short-term fellowship since 2001.

Every year sees more than 40 applications from countries around the world. With only a handful of applications accepted, my application had to be as close to perfect as possible.

My fellowship would be split between two institutions - the first part based at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton, UK, learning about MicroCAT data validation and processing techniques from the team that work on the RAPID mooring array. The second part would be based at the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) in Liverpool, UK, learning about data management and Argo data processing systems.

ASCA Officer Jethan d’Hotman was one of only six successful applicants for the POGO-SCOR Fellowship.

Success!

With guidance from my SAEON mentors, Tammy Morris and Juliet Hermes, I submitted my application and waited eagerly for a response. Weeks passed and when I finally heard back, I was one of six successful applicants.

After months of waiting I began my fellowship at the NOC where I was fortunate enough to partake in a week-long European Gliding Observatories (EGO) conference (ego-network.org). During the conference I saw presentations from world-renowned scientists studying a variety of aspects - from micronutrients to hurricane pathways using glider technology.

As part of the conference I was given the opportunity to tour the NOC’s Marine Autonomous Robotics Systems (MARS) Robotics workshop. The conference was an eye-opening experience to the capabilities and potential of ocean research with advancing technologies.

I spent the next two weeks interacting with the RAPID Climate Change mooring team, learning about how to collect highly accurate temperature, salinity and pressure data from moored array and the importance of high quality data acquisition. During the last week of my fellowship I learnt about the importance of correct data management and techniques to help with this.

I also spent time working with the Argo team at the BODC, learning about Argo data infrastructure, data formats, governance of the Argo program as well as near-real time and delayed mode quality control processes of the data.

Touring the MARS robotics workshop, where technicians work on gliders, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). The MARS robotics workshop is also home to Boaty McBoat Face, an ROV named by an overwhelming response to an online poll.

South African context

This training was extremely valuable and will feed into South Africa’s mooring arrays as well as the growth of South Africa’s Argo program. To enable this training to feed back into a South African context, the SAEON Egagasini Node will be hosting several meetings and workshops with the South African mooring and Argo community over the next few weeks.

This opportunity would not have been possible without the continued support of Tammy Morris and Juliet Hermes. I would like to thank my host supervisors, Drs David Smeed and Justin Buck, for arranging the training programme and for their hospitality, and I look forward to future collaborations. I would also like to acknowledge POGO and SCOR for this fantastic opportunity to grow and further my career.