Oceanography, Phytoplankton Physiology, Ocean Biogeochemistry

Dr Tommy Ryan-Keogh, Principal Researcher at the Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Observatory (SOCCO), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

I am a principal researcher in biogeochemical oceanography having graduated with my PhD in 2014 from the University of Southampton under the supervision of Professors C. Mark Moore, Tom Bibby and Eric Achterberg. In 2015 I was offered a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position at the Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Observatory (SOCCO), CSIR where I have been strongly involved in SOCCO’s biogeochemistry observations as well as taking an active role in SOCCO’s autonomous platform programme. In 2017 I was promoted to Senior Researcher in December 2021, before being promoted to Principal Researcher in May 2024.

I have participated in 12 research cruises throughout my career, predominantly in the Southern Ocean, including the SCALE 2019 spring cruise where I was the Chief Scientist. I am the former ex-officio national chair for APECS-SA, where I led the first ever early career researcher (ECR) community engagement sessions at the 6th SANAP Symposium.

I am the current South African representative to both the GEOTRACES Scientific Steering Committee and the BioGeoSCAPES International Implemementation Committee, the latter of which I am also the chapter co-lead for the BioGeoSCAPES Science Plan. I also serve on various other roles as part of the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) Weddell Sea-Droning Maud Land leadership team, and the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) working groups. A highlight of my career has been delivering a TEDx talk to members of the public about my research on Southern Ocean biogeochemistry.

My research focuses on understanding how phytoplankton are impacted by ocean biogeochemistry and how they in turn impact biogeochemical cycles. With an improved understanding of these mechanisms we can reduce the uncertainties associated with future projections of ocean productivity, which have increased between each intercomparison exercise. My approach to research combines in situ observations of ocean biogeochemisty from ships, high resolution observations using autonomous platforms, remote sensing observations and modelling outputs.