Sebastiaan Swart awarded the Faculty of Science’s research award

How did you react on receiving this award? 
“Initially surprised! I’m very grateful for the acknowledgment on the progress and hard work that we, as a team, have achieved over the past few years. I am supported by so many bright and passionate students and colleagues around me.”  

Tell us a about your research? 
“I’m an oceanographer in our research group, Polar Gliders, where we aim to better understand how climate-critical properties, like heat, carbon and momentum, move between the atmosphere and the ocean. We particularly focus on how this happens in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans – key regions that impact our climate and weather across Europe and in fact the globe.  

This research is particularly challenging because we need to understand both the ocean and atmosphere in unison and how they exchange energy and matter. Our approach is largely to use various ocean robots, like underwater gliders, to observe the holistic ocean-air coupled system in high-resolution in space and time. 

This progress would not be possible without valued collaborations and shared ideas across so many scientists around the world, including from my home country, South Africa.“

What is the next step in your research?
“We are currently targeting the South Atlantic Ocean. This is where we know that important warm and salty waters from the Indian Ocean flow around the tip of southern Africa and “leak” into the Atlantic. This relatively small amount of leakage is fundamental to setting the ocean density that drives the global ocean circulation, including the warm Gulf Stream, that helps keep Europe warm and temperate. We are now measuring, in the finest possible detail, how much of this seawater flows via small currents and ocean eddies so that we may better understand its impact on global circulation, and ultimately the status of our climate.” 

What impact may your research have on society in the future?
“While reaching these remote field sites with ships and state-of-the-art robotic equipment is expensive in cost and energy, we need to constantly remind ourselves that this fundamental research is important to our society. I believe the scientific gains we make today are so valuable to tomorrow’s prediction and mitigation associated with our changing climate, the stress on natural resources and ecosystems – aspects important for the betterment of our society.  

Let’s not take our eye off the long-game we are able to play in places like the University, and in our privileged position in countries like Sweden. As a relatively small country we have an outsized role to play for the world through our combined knowledge.” 

Award motivation 

Sebastiaan Swart’s research has shed new light on the intertwined mechanics of ocean physics and exchange of heat and carbon across the ocean-atmosphere interface in the Southern Ocean. He has introduced cutting-edge autonomous observation platforms and modeling approaches that are revolutionizing the way we collect ocean data and thereby our understanding of the ocean-climate system. He has built an extensive international network, plays a significant role within the scientific community, and contributes to science-to-policy impacts through ocean-climate reports.  

His nurturing, kind nature has ensured that not only leading researchers have access to his laboratory, but also students and researchers from developing countries. His unique tools, insights, and influence reach well beyond his closest collaborators.  

Sebastiaan Swart embodies our faculty’s core values of international collaboration, research excellence, public engagement, and respect for the next generation. He is a true inspiration within and outside his community of polar ocean science.