Oceanography is the study of the world’s oceans and seas, including their physical and chemical properties, their origin and geologic framework, and the life forms that inhabit the marine environment.

Dr. Rondrotiana’s research interests include climate variability, modeling and change, and air-sea action. She has a rich academic background in physics and chemistry, geophysics, seismology, and oceanography. In 2006, she obtained a Diploma of Advanced Studies in seismology from the Institute and Observatory of Geophysics of Antananarivo. In 2011, she bagged a Ph.D. in physical oceanography as part of a program between the University of Trieste in Italy, the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), and the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). Her doctoral research was centered on the role of the Indian Ocean in climate change in Central and Southern Africa.

In 2017, Dr. Rondrotiana joined the University of Cape Town in South Africa where she was part of a research team in the Future Climate for Africa Program. In 2020, she received funding under the Future Leaders African Independent Research (FLAIR) Program supported by the African Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, and the Global Challenges Research Fund of the United Kingdom, through which she carried out a project to analyze the oceanic processes of tropical cyclones formation and intensification in the Mozambique Channel.

In 2021, she was the lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report entitled “Climate change 2021: the basis of physical sciences”. A key finding of the report states that, in a world that warms by 2°C, Madagascar will increasingly face challenges such as extreme heat, and agricultural and ecological drought which will put lives in danger.

Dr. Rondrotiana aims to raise awareness of the importance of oceanographic research, particularly, in her country by collaborating with the national meteorological service and universities in Madagascar.

REFERENCE

Information from http://africawomenexperts.com/lng/en/2022/10/madagascar-rondrotiana-barimalala-the-ocean-researcher/, https://www.akinamamawaafrika.org/dr-rondrotiana-barimalala/, and https://www.britannica.com/science/oceanography