Researcher in the Spotlight: Mathias C. van Caspel 

Mathias, please introduce yourself. 

My name is Mathias C. van Caspel and I am PostDoc at AWI. I currently work with ocean modelling with a circumpolar focus.

Tell us about your professional and academic career before becoming part of the OCEAN:ICE community.

I started my career using observational data to study the Brazil Current. During my master's studies I got to use model output from colleagues and learned about the potential of this tool. For my PhD I moved from Brazil, the Federal University of Rio Grande, to Germany, AWI, and changed the region of interest. I started focusing on the Weddell Sea combing observations and modelling, only this time I was running the show. From there I had a few different positions with observations and modelling before joining OCEAN:ICE as an ocean modeller. 

What do you do within OCEAN:ICE? 

I am part of work package 1 and study the connectivity between ocean Basins and Antarctic Bottom Water formation using FESOM 2., an ocean model. 

What have you enjoyed about OCEAN:ICE so far? 

It is nice to be part of a multidisciplinary group focused on the understanding of Antarctica, this amazing and sensitive part of our Planet. Being able to talk to different colleagues about how we can help improve and facilitate each other's work is a big opportunity to step up our knowledge about the whole system. And lastly, I like to work for OCEAN:ICE because it pays me to do what I like to do. 

Tell us about a skill or trait unique to you that you would like to share? 

I do not know about "unique", but I want to believe that I am a modeller with a fair knowledge of the "real" world. 

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