Atmosphere, Chemistry, Climate, Paleoclimate

Prof. Susanne Fietz, Associate Professor and HoD at the Department of Earth Sciences​ at Stellenbosch University

I received my PhD in Natural Sciences from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany) with the highest available degree (‘summa cum laude’). After postdocs at University of Essex (UK) and Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain), I was appointed as Senior Lecturer at Stellenbosch University in 2013 in the Department of Earth Sciences. Today, I am an Associate Professor and Head of the Department. As senior lecturer, i.e. since 2013, I teach c. 90 contact hours per year at undergraduate and c. 45 contact hours per year at Honours level, which allows me to get to know the new generation of scientists very well. My research group currently consists of two postdocs, four PhD, four MSc, and Honours students. Many of them successfully participated in voyages on board SA Agulhas II or similar international vessels.

Summary of Research Interests:

• Past climatic changes and ecosystem responses that serve projections of the future
• Organic molecules tracking environmental changes and organism acclimation that support understanding responses to expected global changes
• Phytoplankton, microbes and biogeochemistry of the modern oceans helping understanding food webs and CO2 dynamics
• Atmospheric chemistry and air quality surveys improving marine coastal and human health

More about my research focus
My MSc and PhD studies focused on freshwater biogeochemistry particularly on the ecosystem assessment in Lake Baikal (Siberia). Towards the end of my postgraduate studies, I was invited by the US NSF to a research training in Mc Murdo, Antarctica, and thereafter studied the biogeochemistry of the polar oceans in the UK briefly as a research officer. During the following postdoctoral studies in Spain, I used this background to improve our understanding of the changes of the past, including in high latitude environments. In 2013, I relocated from Europe to South Africa, which opened up new opportunities. I use the biogeochemical fossils to decipher climate change in South African systems, all the while continuing studies on the dynamics of the polar oceans. I was elected as South African representative in the GEOTRACES Steering Committee from 2018 to 2023 reporting and promoting South Africa’s work on marine trace element biogeochemistry. The overall aim here is to improve our knowledge on opportunities the Southern Ocean might bear for climate mitigation. Nonetheless, this research also tackles contamination and one of my aims is to show how contamination affects climate.