Annethea Muller successfully defended her Ph.D thesis in 2013. Congratulations!

Title of Ph.D. Thesis:

Exchange of dissolved matter between the Namibian shelf and the adjacent ocean in the Northern Benguela

Thesis committee:

Prof. Wolfgang Fennel, Dr. Martin Schmidt, Dr. Volker Mohrholz, Dr. Tim Rixen

Outline of project within sub-project 2:

There continues to be a need for a greater understanding of shelf-edge exchange processes, specifically in Eastern Boundary Current Systems. In particular, the contribution of the shelf-edge exchange processes to the ecosystem dynamics in the Northern Benguela Upwelling System remains poorly understood. This project will aim to contribute not only to general knowledge about shelf-edge exchange processes, but will specifically focus on quantifying the contribution of these processes to the Northern Benguela Upwelling (Eco)system. The project will attempt to quantify exactly where, how much and by what mechanisms water and dissolved matter leave or come on to the Namibian shelf. A further aim is to gain a better understanding of the physical dynamics of upwelling filaments within this system and to try and quantify the contribution of upwelling filaments to the exchange of dissolved matter across the shelf-edge. This will be done by making use of both data from a regional Ecosystem model as well as data from cruise and other direct measurements.

Key questions to be answered in (Ph.D.) project:

1. Where, how much and by what mechanisms does water (material) leave or come on to the Northern Benguela shelf?

2. What are the mesoscale characteristics and dynamics of Northern Benguela upwelling filaments?

3. What is the contribution of upwelling filaments to the heat, salt, oxygen and nutrient budgets of the northern Benguela?

Conference Contributions:

Muller, A.A., Mohrholz, V., Schmidt, M. (2011). Mesoscale structure and dynamics of a northern Benguela upwelling filament during October 2010. SAMSS/ECSA 2011, 3-7 April 2011, Grahamstown, South Africa (oral presentation).