Zhetao, please introduce yourself.
My name is Zhetao Tan, I’m a post-doctoral investigator in physical oceanography and operational oceanography at Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique – IPSL, Ecole Normale Supérieure — PSL on WP5 in OCEAN ICE project with Prof. Sabrina Speich and Prof. Elaine McDonagh.
Tell us about your professional and academic career before becoming part of the OCEAN ICE community.
I hold my Ph.D from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAP/CAS) in 2024. During that time, my research interests mainly focused on ocean observations, data quality improvements, and ocean compound climate change. Particularly, I developed several ocean observational data processing technologies to support a high-quality in-situ observational database, such as temperature and salinity. In addition, I developed a compound-state change monitoring and assessment framework for sector-based climate risks and marine policy governance. I am also a member of the International Quality Controlled Ocean Database (IQuOD), and the SOOP-XBT data management team (XBT-DMT).
What do you do within OCEAN ICE?
I am part of WP5. In the WP5 OCEAN ICE project, my main goal is to perform a regional analysis to investigate the trends and variability of the water properties in the South Atlantic based on different water masses from the surface to bottom water. In particular, focusing on its salinity and freshwater transport variability. This will be performed by using recently installed monitoring instrumentation around Antarctica and the South Atlantic (e.g., SAMBA lines) and other state-of-the-art observations. In addition, I will also support the data management of the recovery of all bottom mooring equipment in the SAMBA lines.
What have you enjoyed about OCEAN ICE so far?
Wow, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and communication mechanism in the community. I can have enough time to discuss with my co-authors, and to make new connections with other WPs. For example, in September this year, I had the honour to be invited to visit my NORCE partners in the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR) in Norway. I had many deep talks with them regarding the scientific questions in this project, and I was invited to give a seminar regarding my work in the BCCR. I learned a lot and made some new connections during that time. Thanks OCEAN ICE!
Tell us about a skill or trait unique to you that you would like to share?
I always stand by my words and act with firm resolve.
Stay tuned on our social media channels (X, Mastodon, LinkedIn and Bluesky) for more of the series of OCEAN ICE 'Researcher in the Spotlight' articles.