The CSIR’s Dr Sandy Thomalla has been selected as a first author on the seventh assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 

Thomalla is a career oceanographer who currently leads the CSIR-hosted Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Observatory (SOCCO). She joins fellow first authors from across the globe in a four-year voluntary process of compiling the world’s most influential and respected climate policy document.  

“Governments around the world use the IPCC document as a support tool for mitigation and adaptation policy implementation,” says Thomalla.  

Thomalla will co-author a section on the science of Earth system changes, which falls under chapter four of the first working group of the panel. Although Thomalla must be highly impartial in synthesising and collating the latest and highest quality research into the report, she will draw on her own expertise in ocean and climate science.  

“It’s about channelling the best science into policy, so that the policy can be implemented to make a tangible difference in terms of reducing emissions and protecting our planet,” she says. 

She adds that while having a seat at the international climate-action table will be a highlight in her career, it really speaks to the quality of science produced by her team at SOCCO.  

“Our representation on the panel as CSIR researchers is international recognition that we are generating valid research that makes an impact, and that deserves funding.” 

Thomalla says that more than 80 ocean climate scientists, engineers and technicians are now skilled in advanced robotics, modelling, satellite remote sensing, ocean chemistry and more, thanks to over a decade of investment in Southern Ocean climate research at SOCCO by the CSIR and the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI).  

“We now have these very mature capabilities in South Africa to understand the Southern Ocean and how it impacts climate, and that understanding is then implemented into Earth systems models,” she says.  

“With better Earth systems models, we can feed back into society by supporting policy and governance around adaptation and mitigation strategies, such as through this IPCC7 report process.” 

The first meeting of IPCC7 first authors will be held in Paris in December to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted by 195 parties at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015. 

Thomalla’s selection to the panel follows in the footsteps of SOCCO founder Prof. Pedro Monteiro, who served as a coordinating author on several IPCC reports.  

She says contributing to the IPCC as a South African, as a CSIR scientist and as a woman is a responsibility she takes very seriously and is deeply humbled by. 

Don’t miss Dr Sandy Thomalla’s #sustainability talk titled, “Risks to fisheries and climate misjudged: what we now know from satellites and underwater robotics,” to be held at the CSIR @80 | GSTIC Conference, from 8 –10 October at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria.