GEOMAR  Imbol Koungue, Rodrigue Anicet

Dr. Rodrigue Anicet Imbol Koungue

Imbol

RD:  Ocean Circulation and Climate Dynamics
Research Unit:  Physical Oceanography
Topic 2:  Ocean and cryosphere in climate change

Office:
Building: 5, Tower: 2
Room: 3.222
Phone: +49 431 600-4117
Email: rimbol(at)geomar.de

Address:
Wischhofstrasse 1-3
D-24148 Kiel
Germany

Research interests

  • Equatorial dynamics
  • Planetary waves
  • Atlantic, Benguela and Dakar Niños
  • Tropical Atlantic variability (Intraseasonal to decadal timescales)

Education and employment

2009 - 2010: B.Sc. in Physics, University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon

2012 - 2013: M.Sc. in Physical Oceanography, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin and University of Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier, France

2014 - 2018: PhD in Physical Oceanography, University of Cape Town and Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research, Cape Town, South Africa

Since 2018:  Postdoctoral Researcher, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany

Grants

2012: Scholarship awarded by UNESCO to join the Master in Physical Oceanography of the University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin.

2022 - 2025: German research foundation (DFG Modul Eingene Stelle) grant at GEOMAR Helmholtz centre for Ocean research Kiel, Kiel, Germany. 

  • Project acronym: ASPIRANT 
  • Project title: Assessing the present and future changes of marine climate extremes at the eastern boundary of the South Atlantic off Angola.
  • Research foci: Benguela Niño, decadal variability, local and remote forcing mechanisms, climatic trends, tropical Angolan upwelling.

2024: German research foundation (DFG) grant for the research cruise (M216) with RV METEOR (22/01/2026 - 14/02/2026)

  • Project acronym: BOCABENO (GPF 24-1/14)
  • Project title: Boundary Circulation off Angola and Benguela Niños
  • Subject area: Hydrography, mooring operations
  • Duty: Co-chief Scientist. In charge of: the mooring operations off Angola (Calibration and setting up moored intruments such Microcats, optodes, acoustic Doppler current profilers). 

Projects

2013 - 2017: Participant in the Enhancing PREdiction oF tropical Atlantic ClimatE and its impacts, (PREFACE)

  • Duty: Worked in core theme 2 (CT2) focussing on the role of ocean processes in climate variability.

2018 - 2022: Participant in the Benguela Niños: Physical processes and long-term variability, (BANINO-SPACES II)

  • Duty: Worked in subproject 1 focussing on the variability of upwelling, mixing, nutrient supply and boundary circulation off Angola.

2019 - 2023: Participant in the Tropical and South Atlantic Climate-Based marine Ecosystem prediction for sustainable management, (TRIATLAS)

  • Duty: Worked in core theme 1 (CT1) focussing on the current state of the marine ecosystems including environmental processes and human activities.

Since 2021: Participant in the Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic, (PIRATA)

  • Duty: Study ocean dynamics, air-sea interactions using real-time PIRATA mooring records in the Atlantic Ocean at the equator. Attend annual meetings.

Research cruises

10/2016 - 11/2016: Research cruise M131 with RV METEOR (tropical South Atlantic, Recife, Brazil - Walvis Bay, Namibia)

  • Duty: Participant

09/2019 - 10/2019: Research cruise M158/TRATLEQ I with RV METEOR (equatorial and south-eastern tropical Atlantic, Walvis Bay, Namibia - Recife, Brazil)

  • Duty: Participant

06/2021 - 08/2021: Research cruise SO284 with RV SONNE (tropical Atlantic, Emden, Gernamy - Emden, Gernamy)

  • Duty: Participant

04/2022 - 05/2022: Research cruise M181/TRATLEQ II with RV METEOR (equatorial and south-eastern tropical Atlantic, Cape Town, South Africa - Mindelo, Cape Verde)

  • Duty: Participant

04/2023 - 05/2023: Research cruise M189 with RV METEOR (south-eastern tropical Atlantic, Walvis Bay, Namibia - Walvis Bay, Namibia)

  • Duty: Participant

02/2026 - 03/2026: Research cruise M217 with RV METEOR (tropical Atlantic, Las Palmas, Spain - Walvis Bay, Namibia.)

  • Duty: Co-chief Scientist

Awards

2017: Stanley Jackson award awarded by the South African Society for Atmospheric Sciences for the outstanding contribution to atmospheric and oceanic sciences in Southern Africa in 2017. (Imbol Koungue, R. A., S. Illig, and M. Rouault (2017), Role of interannual Kelvin wave propagations in the equatorial Atlantic on the Angola Benguela Current system, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 122, 4685-4703, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC012463)

2019: Stanley Jackson award awarded by the South African Society for Atmospheric Sciences for the outstanding contribution to atmospheric and oceanic sciences in South Africa in 2019. (Rouault, M., S. Illig, J. Lübbecke, R. A. Imbol Koungue (2018). Origin, development and demise of the 2010-2011 Benguela Niño, J Mar Syst 188:39–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2017.07.007.)

2020: Best PhD student presentation at the Nansen Tutu TRIATLAS Summer School, Cape Town, South Africa (14/01.- 21/01/2020,).

  • In Revision

    1. Rodriguez-Fonseca, B., Calvo-Miguélez, E., Montoya-Carramolino, L., Rodrigues, R. R., Polo, I., Martin-Rey M., Losada, T., López-Parages, J., Gómara, I., Rivas, D., Fransner, F., Exarchou, E., Keenlyside, N., Shannon, L., Gammage, L., Ramirez, F., Artana, C., Sánchez-Garrido, J. C., Sanchez, E., Moine, M. P., Bernardello, R., Steenbeck, J., Coll, M., Bertrand, A., Martín-Gómez, V., Lübbecke, J.,  Araujo, M., Brandt, P., Schmidt, J., Sloterdijk, H., Angelini, R., Imbol Koungue, R. A., Diouf, K., Koseki, S., McDonagh, E., Mohino, E., Muelbert, J., Ndoye, S., Nnamchi, H., Ramanantsoa, J.,Rouault, M., Schwamborn, R., Fock, H., Ostrowski, M., Gaye, A. T., Mechoso, C., McPhaden, M., Cai, W. ENSO Impact on marine ecosystems and fisheries in the tropical and South Atlantic (accepted for publication in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment).
    2. Thiam, A., K., Dadou, I., Imbol Koungue, R. A., Illig, S., Brandt, P., Alory, G., Morvan, G. Impact of Intraseasonal Coastal Trapped Waves on Upwelling in the Northern Gulf of Guinea (In revision in Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans).
    3. Imbol Koungue, R. A., Prigent. A., Lübbecke, J., Brandt, P., Jouanno, J. Interannual variability of net primary productivity in the northwest African coastal upwelling system and their relation to Dakar Niños (In revision in Scientific Reports).  

    Reviewed publications

    Book chapters

    Conference presentations

    Cruise reports

    Conference proceedings

    1. Rouault, M., Lübbecke. J., Illig. S., Imbol Koungue, R. A. (2015). Origin, development and demise of the 2010-2011 Benguela Niño. Peer review abstracts, pp 14-16, 31st Annual Conference of the South African Society for Atmospheric Science, Pretoria, 21 22 September 2015, pp 60-63 ISBN 978-0-620-67825-4.
    2. Imbol Koungue. R. A., and Lübbecke, J. (2020). Benguela Niños. Peer review abstracts, pp 30-32, Nansen Tutu Center 10th anniversary symposium: Ocean, weather and climate, science to the service of society, Cape Town, 10-12 March 2020, ISBN: 978-1-77634-359-1.

    Other publications

    1. Imbol Koungue, R. A., S. Illig, and M. Rouault (2017), Role of interannual Kelvin wave propagations in the equatorial Atlantic on the Angola Benguela Current system, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans., 122, 4685-4703, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC012463

    2. Rouault, M., Illig, S., Lübbecke, J.F., Imbol Koungue, R. A. (2018). Origin, development and demise of the 2010-2011 Benguela Niño, Journal of Marine Systems 188:39–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2017.07.007