Following the successful conclusion of the PASCAL autumn school and hackathon in Ghana at the start of December, Jülich’s agrosphere research team and Geoverbund ABC/J are looking to continue and expand on their project in Africa. There are plans for an Africa Day in the second half of 2019, which will serve as a platform to present ongoing and recently completed research projects.
Today is the last day of our PASCAL project in Accra. While the group is still working hard with Dr. Jirka Šimůnek and Dr. Roland Baatz to get to know the software “Hydrus” and to implement their own data to model water flows and contaminant transports in soils we ask some participants to give us a short feedback on the week. For us it was a pleasure working with you guys. We really enjoyed your interest in the subject and your enthusiasm at the courses. Hopefully we will meet again soon.
The hydrological cycle does not appear to be that complicated at first sight. Sea water evaporates and then arrives back at the Earth’s surface in the form of precipitation. There, it evaporates again, infiltrates into the ground, and is transported by rivers back into the sea. This cycle is, however, influenced by complex interactions between the atmosphere, the surface of the Earth, soils, vegetation and groundwater. Scientists from Jülich and Bonn have developed a modelling platform, the Terrestrial Systems Modeling Platform (TSMP), which they use to simulate flows of terrestrial water, energy, and nutrients for large areas like parts of Germany or even Europe.
Deforestation, soil degredation, climate change: African countries face serious challenges in regard of a sustainable development, requiring a comprehensive integrated approach. The PASCAL training program aims at initiating a knowledge and technology transfer-bridge between Germany and Africa in the areas of soil science, nutrition and hydrology. An interview with Chioma Ogbenna shows how young scientists can utilize the training on HPC-enabled terrestrial modelling.
Wednesday, 28 November. Second day of the PASCAL side programme – a lot of input for the participants! The aim is to get them to know Germany (and especially Forschungszentrum Jülich!) as a place for excellent science. Therefore the programme provides information on Germany and Jülich as a science location, it wants to foster the exchange between African and German scientists and to support scientists who are interested in a work stay in Germany/Jülich. Welcome to the “Career Fair”!
We, the members of the PASCAL team, are in Accra to organize the program, to give lectures and to do exercises with the participants – and some of us are here to report about it. Unfortunately, for most of us there is not much time besides or after the scientific program to get to know the capital and its people. At least we get an impression of this incredible city when we commute between the hotel and WASCAL headquarters. Thankfully the other day on the way back to our hotel we could persuade our driver to make some extra turns and show us “his” Accra.
Monday, November 26. Official start of PASCAL. Unlike the weekend, when the place had a certain sleepiness, the WASCAL headquarters now hum with activity. Time to say hello to all the people who helped us organizing the workshop in the last months, e.g. Piece Ahovi from PR. All of you did a very good job, thank you!
Von Erhard Zeiss und Marcel Bülow
After a short stop in Amsterdam we made our way to Kotoka International Airport in Accra. Our first impression touching African ground was not just the temperature around 30 degrees Celsius and a humidity of about 80 percent which hit us hard exiting the air conditioned airplane from the 5 degrees cold Netherlands. But the warm welcome of the Ghanaian people.
A small “band” – one man with a digital piano playing and singing in the arrival hall of the airport – certainly contributed to this impression. In the row to the obligatory temperature scan (fever?) and the visa check we were well entertained – in particular when the singer started a song on Amsterdam when the Dutch cabin crew entered the hall and began dancing to the African vibes.
This post is about someone we haven’t introduced till now. Our “new kid” is Bianka Fernengel from the Human Resources department.
Bianka steps in for Alissa. She is the first team member who already has African experiences. This is what she told me:
Africa is no doubt the fastest growing continent in the world with a population of nearly 1.3 billion, growing at an average annual rate of 2.5% since the last 10 years. The growing population directly implies growing demand for food, energy, safe drinking water and health care. The growing youth population in most African countries has not been met with corresponding job opportunities within the continent to stem the incidences of high youth criminalities and quest for emigration. Infrastructures such as good road and public transportation systems, reliable power supply and affordable housing facilities, on which sustainable development can be built have not evolved with the evolving population in many Africa countries hence grossly affecting the living standard of the people.