Dr Tommy Ryan-Keogh

August 2025 data is now available for both Antarctic sea-ice thickness/volume (zacklabe.com/antarctic-se...) and global sea-ice volume (zacklabe.com/global-sea-i...) from GIOMAS. Another monthly record low (globally)!

#DataViz #SciComm #OpenScience #OpenData 🧪🌊⚒️

Bathymetric map of the Northern Gulf of Alaska Long Term Ecological Research (NGA LTER) site

Whilst trace metals influence ocean productivity, there are a paucity of regions where their spatial and temporal variability are well explored. Ortega et al., investigate the drivers of trace metal dynamics in the productive Northern Gulf of Alaska 🌊
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Constraining aerosol deposition over the global ocean Nature Geoscience - Aerosol deposition onto the surface of the ocean has been underestimated, suggesting that aerosol lifetimes over the ocean are longer than previously appreciated, according to a...

🌊New paper out using 7Be to constrain global atmospheric deposition.

"aerosol processes are more dynamic than previously estimated, with important implications for...aerosol-driven climate effects and marine biogeochemical processes globally."

In memory of David Kadko.

rdcu.be/eHihM

Figure 1 from the paper, showing four subplots of maps of the west Antarctic shelf extending from the West Antarctic Peninsula to the Ross Sea. Figure caption: January 10-yr (2010–2019) mean (a) OBPG/L2gen Chl a (which shows low Chl near the coastline), (b) OBPG nFLH (which shows elevated nFLH near the coastline), (c) OC-CCI Chl a (which also shows high Chl near the coast, agreeing with the pattern in the nFLH), and (d) difference in Chl a products OC-CCI Chl a minus OBPG/L2gen Chl a, over the west Antarctic shelf (which shows a band of much higher Chl, ~5-10 ug/L, extending along the entire west Antarctic coastline).

🌊 I have a new paper out in L&O Letters! We show that ocean color-based estimates of chlorophyll concentrations within 100 km of the Antarctic coastline are severely underestimated when applying the standard NASA L2gen atmospheric processing. This is caused by adjacency effects from ice and snow.

I also spotted this on my walk today, so if I ever get homesick for South Africa I can treat myself

Excited to start my new position at the @noc.ac.uk today. Feels like coming home to where my academic career began

Researchers from the NOC have begun ground-breaking Arctic fieldwork in the fjords around Greenland to understand glacial meltwater’s impact on the carbon cycle, supported by Augmentum. 🧊🔁🌊

Read more here ➡️https://noc.ac.uk/news/noc-partners-augmentum-support-arctic-mission

🌊 I’m hiring! Last few days to apply!! Research Scientist in Marine Ecology & Machine Learning at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK). Got experience with machine learning techniques applied to marine ecology, biogeochemistry or climate change? careers.noc.ac.uk/vacancy/rese...

Chlorophyll data are from the European Space Agency ocean-colour climate change initiative project (OC-CCI) product. a, Map showing decadal chl-a trends (Sen slope; Methods) during summer. b, Monthly-mean chl-a anomalies during summer. c, Annual-mean chl-a anomalies. The red lines in b and c represent the trends calculated using the locally estimated scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) approach.

Phytoplankton are microscopic plants living in the water column. They flourish around Antarctica, where they both remove carbon from the atmosphere and are the base of the food web. Over the last 25 years, they have changed, and it's related to ice lose. 🧪🌊
Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Today I had my farewell drinks at SOCCO. My 2 year postdoc position that turned into a beautiful 10 year adventure.
From September I will be starting my new position @noc.ac.uk as a Senior Researcher in the Ocean BioGeoSciences group.

🌊PhD Positions Available🌊

If you are interested in studying marine CDR check out the link below. There are 3 positions available at Stellenbosch University in the School of Climate Science. The applications will remain open until all positions are filled.

climate.sun.ac.za/blog/three-p...

Monitoring the Ocean’s Green Pulse: A New Global Dataset for Phytoplankton Phenology Phytoplankton are tiny, single-celled organisms mainly found in the ocean’s sunlit surface, where they grow through photosynthesis, forming the marine food web’s base and regulating Earth’s climate by...

🌊 blogs.egu.eu/divisions/os...

En route to the final SWINGS/GEOTRACES GS02 post cruise meeting. Prepared for a week of sharing ideas and drafting papers.

En route to the final SWINGS/GEOTRACES GS02 post cruise meeting. Prepared for a week of sharing ideas and drafting papers.

🌊 Registration now open for the GEOTRACES summer school.

📅 17-21 November | Cape Town

🎓Training in marine biogeochemistry of trace elements and isotopes for 36 students

Applications close 30 June 2025

geotraces-2025.sciencesconf.org

Satellite-derived global-ocean phytoplankton phenology indices Abstract. Phytoplankton bloom phenology is an important indicator for the monitoring and management of marine resources and the assessment of climate change impacts on ocean ecosystems. Despite its re...

🌊 New paper led by @sarahnicholson.bsky.social, myself and others. We generated a multi-year, multi-algorithm data product of global phytoplankton bloom phenology. The data is provided at 3 different spatial resolutions depending upon your study requirements.

essd.copernicus.org/articles/17/...

10 years ago today I landed in Cape Town for a 2 year postdoc position. Countless memories, 3 job promotions and 1 husband later I would say accepting this position was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Marion Island ‘power crisis’: Generator clings to life as relief ship takes its time Just one life-saving machine is still limping along at the isolated outpost. Back-up systems have thrown in the towel. As help from the South African mainland has been delayed again, all base staff ca...

🌊 interesting article on the status of polar research in South Africa. Here’s hoping something will finally be done to fix the many issues.

www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...

🌊 SOCCO’s brand new website is finally live.

socco.org.za

Check it out to find out more details about the team and the research projects we are involved in.

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Today I presented at #icshmo2025 on some recent work I have been doing with @altagliabue.bsky.social and others. Where we performed a systematic assessment of NPP trends in models and observations, whilst also highlighting critical knowledge gaps that represent future research priorities.

As autumn creeps in another chilli harvest has come to an end. Proud of my green thumb this year in getting ghost chillies to grow.

Spent the long weekend camping in the mountains and disconnecting from the world.

Climate models underestimate global phytoplankton decline, study warns A CSIR study analysing 26 years of satellite data reveals how ocean warming is significantly reducing ocean productivity

🌊

mg.co.za/the-green-gu...

YouTube video by CSIRNewMedia CSIR webinar: CSIR-led research study warns of global decline in ocean production

Also available is a webinar of me discussing the study:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9GE...

Phytoplankton in peril, global ocean productivity plummets, study warns New research led by the CSIR has uncovered a troubling global trend – a significant decline in ocean productivity over the past 26 years, with consequences for marine biodiversity, fisheries, and the ...

Media release going at full speed now:

www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...

My fan club watching me on the news last night as I spoke about my recent study in @commsearth.bsky.social 🌊

bsky.app/profile/tjry...

🧪🌊
hey #biogeochemistry , #marinegeochemistry students and early careers out there, you may want to sign up in this list.

www.geotraces.org/geotraces-ea...

#ECR
@tracemetalclean.bsky.social @altagliabue.bsky.social @usocb.bsky.social @soosocean.bsky.social