Ocean modelling

Associate Professor Jochen Kaempf, Lecturer in Oceanography, Flinders University

In South Australia no issue is more important than water. To ensure drinking water is available in times of severe drought the State Government has invested $228 million in building a seawater desalination plant at Port Stanvac, Adelaide.

Associate Professor Jochen Kaempf, Lecturer in Oceanography, and his research group at Flinders University have been using eResearch SA’s supercomputing facilities for hydrodynamic modelling purposes in a rich variety of applications.

For example, Jochen’s model simulations have enhanced our understanding of the risks that seawater desalination poses to the marine environment.

Using eResearch SA’s high performance computing facilities, Jochen has been able to model the mixing of desalination brine with seawater to measure the impact on the dilution of salinity in sea water, and monitor the risk of marine pollution.

His model’s predictions currently play an important role in assessing the viability of BHP Billiton’s proposal to build a seawater desalination plant in Upper Spencer Gulf as part of the Olympic Dam expansion.

Jochen’s current focus is to develop new methods to quantify marine connectivity in the ocean, which is fundamental to understanding the ways marine systems operate including their response to environmental change. Overall, his research contributes to the implementation of sound, sustainable management of marine resources in Australia.

More information contact:
Assoc. Prof. Jochen Kaempf (email: jochen.kaempf@flinders.edu.au)