Climate Research and Natural Marine Substances

18 July 2014/Kiel. For Jai S Sohan, Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore in Germany, it was already the second visit at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel within a month. At the end of June, following the invitation of the Schleswig-Holstein state government, he had attended the traditional Kiel Week reception of the diplomatic corps at GEOMAR in Kiel. Yesterday he was once again a guest at the Kiel marine researchers - this time to talk with GEOMAR Director Professor Peter Herzig about possible cooperation of research institutions in Singapore with colleagues in Kiel.
During the one hour conversation, Ambassador Sohan was especially interested in the fields of climate research, climate modeling and sea level rise. "As an island nation with very scarce land resources, Singapore has naturally great interest in new findings in these areas," Professor Herzig said after the meeting. But other issues, such as the research into natural marine substances, were on the agenda as well. During a brief tour, the Ambassador also learned of the maritime technology infrastructure at GEOMAR, such as the submersible JAGO, the ROV fleet and one of the world's largest pools of ocean-bottom seismometers. "Singapore is located right on the border between the Indian and Pacific Ocean. Thus the city-state is an ideal site for many research topics, such as climate research, the study of global water mass transport, as well as ecology in tropical oceans, or raw materials," said Professor Herzig. "So we look forward to establishing good contacts."