INSA secondments continue in spite of ongoing restrictions

The INSA secondments continue to advance despite the additional hurdles linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.  The Aerology Laboratory (LAERO) in Toulouse has recently welcomed two more colleagues from the University of Felix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire: Adama Bakayoko in October 2020, and Money Guillaume Ossohou in February 2021.

Adama Bakayoko is a 3rd year PhD student under the joint supervision of Véronique Yoboué (UFHB), and Claire Delon and Corinne Galy-Lacaux, CNRS researchers at LAERO. Adama will spend nine months working in Toulouse. The first months of his secondment (October 2020 – January 2021) were dedicated to interpreting precipitation chemistry analyses in East Africa, the results of which were published in January 2021 in Environmental Research Letters (ERL):  Dominant contribution of nitrogen compounds in precipitation chemistry in the Lake Victoria catchment (East Africa), https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe25c.

Adama is currently analysing gas concentration measurements in Mbita, a key study site in the Lake Victoria Basin, with the goal of understanding the interannual variability of concentrations in response to variation in weather conditions and local and regional sources. The last part of his secondment will be dedicated to analysing the nitrogen budget in the Lake Victoria Basin, using both his own data on atmospheric nitrogen deposition and data from the literature. His work will contribute directly to the INSA project’s objective to examine nitrogen concentrations in the atmosphere and nitrogen deposition fluxes (wet and dry) to Lake Victoria and its catchment, as well as be integrated in his thesis.

In parallel, Adama is involved in the preparation of the Association des Petits Débrouillards’ (APDOC) action in schools in Côte d’Ivoire, planned in February and March 2022.  This important intervention will educate both children and teachers on the essential but complex role Nitrogen plays in our lives.

Money Guillaume Ossohou, is an associate researcher at the University of Felix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB). Guillaume arrived in February and will spend three months working with Corinne Galy-Lacaux (LAERO) and Véronique Yoboué (UFHB) on validating and interpreting ammonia database trends across three major African biomes: dry savanna, wet savanna and forest. It is anticipated that this work will result in a key reference article: Trends and seasonal variability of ammonia across three major African biomes inferred from long term series of ground-based and satellite measurements. In addition, Guillaume’s work on atmospheric gas measurements will provide important updates to the INSA interoperable platform. As one of the key objectives of the first part of the INSA project, the interoperable platform will provide reliable data on N stocks and flows. This data is essential for model validation, and for quantifying model accuracy when predicting the impact of various management scenarios.

During his visit, Guillaume will also assist in developing the INSA workplan to calculate Nitrogen gaseous dry deposition fluxes across the west and central African sites of the INDAAF project.