MetOcean Solutions at New Zealand Marine and Freshwater Science Societies Joint Conference

This week, MetOcean Solutions’ team is presenting at the NZ Marine Science Society & NZ Freshwater Science Society Joint Conference 2022. Running from 21 to 24 November in Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland, the conference celebrates the connectivity between Waitī and Waitā by bringing together knowledge to support vibrant marine and freshwater ecosystems. 

MetOcean’s Research and Development Science Leader, Dr Joao de Souza, will be chairing the Moana Project session on the morning of 23 November.  His talk on “Assimilation of fishing vessel-derived observations into an operational ocean forecast system” will present the first results from a regional simulation with 4DVar data assimilation of observations from the fully automated Mangōpare sensor attached to different fishing gear in New Zealand waters. 

First results to be presented by Dr Joao de Souza: Model assimilation performance is heterogeneous in both time and space. Number of available observations seem to be important, in addition to local "dynamics".

“By deploying a New Zealand water temperature and pressure sensor – the Mangōpare sensor – in partnership with the fishing industry, we are building a new nationwide ocean observing capability,” says Joao. “The new observations are shown to improve our forecast accuracy, especially in the ocean subsurface and in regions of high economic activity – exactly where we need it the most.” 

Later, in the Moana Project session, MetOcean data scientist Dr Julie Jakoboski is presenting “Te Tiro Moana (“Eyes on the Ocean”): Observations of Aotearoa’s Ocean Past and Present to Understand Our Changing Seas”. Her talk presents the Moana Project initiative of crowd-sourcing observations, exploring the opportunity to cover our EEZ by partnering with vessels that are already operating there. 

“In close partnership with the commercial fishing sector and others, more than 300 sensors have been deployed on 200+ vessels,” says Julie. “Together with New Zealand’s Ocean community, Te Tiro Moana is providing ocean measurements to better understand our ocean, past and future.” 

In the Aquaculture and Fisheries session, MetOcean Post-Doctoral Fellow Dr Christopher Roach is presenting “Assessing the Vulnerability of Perna canaliculus to Marine Climate Change” on Tuesday, 22 November. In this study he presents connectivity and ocean warming estimates from future climate downscalings, developed using a combination of the NZ Earth System model and the Moana Ocean Hindcast Regional Ocean Modelling System configuration. 

“In the medium-term commercial aquaculture of Green Lipped Mussels is not in danger from climate change,” says Christopher. “But the longer-term risks to mussel farms from high water temperatures around the North Island become significant to severe.” 

MetOcean Solutions is excited to be part of such an important event in Aotearoa’s science calendar. Check out here the details of all the presentations from the Moana Project team. Read more about the conference here.