GGOSSS 2026: Equipping the Gulf of Guinea’s Next Generation of Ocean Experts at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin

The Gulf of Guinea has one of Africa’s most densely populated and most exposed coastlines, yet ocean forecasting systems there are not yet fully operational. From 3 to 9 October 2026, the second edition of the Gulf of Guinea Ocean Sciences Summer School (GGOSSS) trained 51 young researchers from eight African countries at the International Chair in Mathematical Physics and Applications (ICMPA – UNESCO Chair), University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), in Cotonou, Benin. For seven days, they learned to observe, model and analyse the ocean, from the lecture room to the waters of Lake Nokoué.

Official photo of participants and officials at the opening ceremony. Credit: GGOSSS

A school born from a gap

Founded and led by Dr Babette Christelle Tchonang, GGOSSS builds ocean science capacity among francophone students and early-career researchers in the Gulf of Guinea, where training in ocean observation has long been concentrated in English-speaking countries. Its motto sums up the ambition: “Empowering the next generation of ocean experts for a resilient Gulf of Guinea.” The need is real: SDG 14, the UN goal for the ocean, remains one of the least funded and least advanced of the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Africa gains people who strengthen their skills and knowledge, and who will go on to support their institutions. They will be able to predict what may happen, which can help warn populations, relocate them if necessary, and prevent the destruction of property.” Dr Babette Tchonang, founder and Chair of GGOSSS

The first edition, held in Dschang, Cameroon, from 25 to 29 August 2025, brought together 36 participants and twelve instructors. The 2026 cohort counted 51 trainees in person, 18 of them women, from Benin, Cameroon, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Niger, Congo and Burkina Faso, plus one trainee online: master’s students, PhD candidates and early-career researchers. Seven instructors from Africa, Europe and North America taught on site and five online, supported by a field team of four and a local organizing team of five. The working language was French, with materials in English.

Foundations: from Coriolis to Copernicus

The first two days laid the groundwork. Prof. Frédéric Bonou and Dr Wilfried Panassa opened with an introduction to physical oceanography centred on the Gulf of Guinea, from the role of the ocean in climate to the currents and variability of the region. Dr Hugo Plombat, Dr Fernand Assene, Dr Rodrigue Imbol Koungue and Dr Babette Tchonang then set up the trainees’ Python environment and introduced pandas and xarray for ocean data.

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Some instructors of GGOSSS 2026. Top left: Prof. Frédéric Bonou from UNSTIM Abomey, Benin ; Top right: Dr. Hugo Plombat from University of Michigan, USA; Bottom left: Dr. Fernand Assene from ENSTMO, University of Ebolowa, Cameroon; Bottom right: Dr. Rodrigue Imbol Koungue from University of Bergen, Norway. Credit GGOSSS ]

On Day 2, Dr Nathanaël Dossa and Dr Imbol Koungue presented in-situ measurement techniques. Dr Tchonang introduced satellite oceanography, then led a session on OPERA, the Copernicus Marine Service and EDITO, the European digital twin of the ocean. Prof. Eric Chassignet introduced ocean modelling. Prof. Bonou and Dr Nourdi Njutapvoui showed how waves, sediment and human structures shape the West African coast, a narrow strip that carries about 56% of the region’s GDP. Dr Njutapvoui closed the day with machine learning for coastal vulnerability mapping.

Prof. Eric Chassignet, Florida State University, USA. Credit: GGOSSS]

Dr. Babette Tchonang, Florida State University, USA. Credit: GGOSSS]

A day on Lake Nokoué

Lake Nokoué, where the Cotonou channel meets the Ouémé River, has been monitored for nearly ten years. It is a unique observatory of the “land-to-ocean continuum” in West Africa, where fresh water meets the Atlantic tide. On the third day, the whole cohort went into the field under the guidance of Dr Victor Okpeitcha (ICMPA – UNESCO Chair). Four teams worked from boats with an ADCP, a mini-CTD, multiparameter probes, an echosounder, a rain gauge, GPS and a phytoplankton net, while instructors rotated between teams. For most participants, it was the first time they operated these instruments and saw the effect of the tide first-hand. They also learned that data quality depends as much on how an instrument is used as on the instrument itself.

The day was a lesson for some instructors too. Dr Hugo Plombat, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan who usually works with already-calibrated data, said: “This school allowed me to discover the reality of data collection.” He now looks at the data he uses “with far more respect and consideration.”

Participants set out on Lake Nokoué for the GGOSSS 2026 field campaign, 5 October 2026. Credit: GGOSSS

On board, an instructor shows trainees how to set up and read the instruments on a laptop before the measurements. Credit: GGOSSS

A trainee prepares to lower the CTD probe into Lake Nokoué to measure temperature, conductivity and depth. Credit: GGOSSS

Official opening

The official opening ceremony took place on Day 4. Prof. Ezinvi Baloïtcha, local organizer, welcomed participants and thanked the partners and the Port Autonome de Cotonou. Dr Tchonang recalled that the school was born from a simple observation: many young Africans want to train in ocean sciences without having the means to do so. Academician Norbert Hounkonnou, President of the ICMPA – UNESCO Chair, welcomed “the opportunity given to African youth to learn and go far in this field.” Ms Stéphanie Dos Santos, representative of IRD in Benin, hoped “to see this African network on ocean issues grow, particularly through a tool like this school.” Prof. Romain Hounzandji, representing the Rector of UAC, declared the school officially open, noting that by hosting GGOSSS 2026 the university “confirms its vocation as a scientific hub serving the sustainable development of West Africa.”

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Opening ceremony galery images. Credit GGOSSS 

Three days of hands-on specialisation

From Day 4 to Day 6, trainees joined one of three groups.

• Numerical modelling. Led by Dr Assene, Dr Plombat and Prof. Chassignet, the group ran a regional CROCO hindcast of the Gulf of Guinea at 1/12° with a nested 1/36° grid, forced by GLORYS12, ERA5 and GloFAS. “We have two and a half days to become modellers!” Prof. Chassignet told them. They analysed circulation, upwelling and river plumes. Using a very high-resolution model of the Gulf of Guinea, a resource that does not yet exist for the region, they then simulated three concrete cases with OpenDrift: the spread of an oil spill, the drift of people or boats at sea, and the transport of plastic waste from rivers to the ocean.

• In-situ observations. Led by Dr Imbol Koungue and Dr Okpeitcha, trainees worked with Copernicus Marine in-situ products, water masses along the A16 section, ADCP currents from the PIRATA-FR35 cruise and GLODAPv2 biogeochemistry. They also mapped the salinity of Lake Nokoué from two CTD surveys: mean surface salinity fell from 23.7 in April to 2.6 in September 2026, after the rainy-season inflow from the rivers.

• Satellite remote sensing. Led by Dr Tchonang, the group worked entirely in the Copernicus Marine cloud, without downloading data. Trainees analysed sea surface temperature, chlorophyll and wind, then sea level and geostrophic currents from DUACS altimetry and the new SWOT mission, finding a regional sea-level rise of about 3.5 mm per year since 1993.

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Hands-on training in the specialisation groups. Credit GGOSSS 

Instructors coming home

For some instructors, GGOSSS was also a return to their roots. Dr Rodrigue Imbol Koungue, a physical oceanographer at the University of Bergen (Norway) who studies extreme events in the tropical Atlantic, from the Gulf of Guinea to Angola and the Benguela region, trained at the ICMPA – UNESCO Chair. “It is here in Benin that it all truly began for me in oceanography,” he said. His career shows that training received at the Chair can be the foundation of a solid international career.

Prof. Eric Chassignet, director of the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) at Florida State University, encouraged learners to compare several models, such as HYCOM, MOM and CROCO, to understand their differences and limits. Having run summer schools where French-speaking participants struggled to follow courses in English, he welcomed the place GGOSSS gives to French, and was moved to discover Africa’s French-speaking scientific community.

Presentations, careers and certificates

On the final day, each sub-group presented its results in 15 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of questions, defending its choice of product, resolution and quality control in front of colleagues who used other tools. Dr Tchonang then presented the opportunities that continue after the school through OPERA and SCOR, including online courses, webinars and the SEA-FORWARD toolbox.

A round table on careers in ocean science, moderated by Dr Okpeitcha, brought together the region’s academic, port and private sectors. Ms Fatimatou Mama Sambo, geometrician engineer and head of the Topographic, Hydrographic and Oceanographic Studies Department at the Port Autonome de Cotonou, and Mr Philippe Zoumenou, director of SETAMF Engineering, a consultancy specialising in river and coastal development, joined Dr Tchonang and Mr Jordan Kamta, a GGOSSS 2025 alumnus. Their presence brought learners closer to the professional realities of the maritime and port sector. The certificate ceremony then marked each participant’s commitment throughout the week.

Closing round table on careers in ocean science. Credit: GGOSSS]

Participants with their completion certificates. Credit: GGOSSS]

Sea turtles and the Amazons

Beyond the scientific programme, participants gathered on Tokplégbé beach to release young sea turtles into the Atlantic, an initiative of a local NGO, the Port Autonome de Cotonou and the coastal protection brigade. It was a reminder that being a scientist also means acting on the ground, and a moving moment for the whole cohort.

The cohort also visited the Esplanade des Amazones, facing the Amazon Monument, which overlooks Boulevard de la Marina and the Atlantic. For these young scientists from diverse backgrounds, this tribute to the Amazons of Dahomey evoked strength and determination.

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Participants take part in the release of baby sea turtles on Tokplégbé beach in Cotonou and in front of the Amazon Monument, on the last day of the school. Credit: GGOSSS

Voices of the participants

Forty-one of the 51 trainees answered the end-of-school survey. 95% rated the overall quality of the school 4 or 5 out of 5, and the same share found the content relevant to their work or studies. “I was not using it before, but with this summer school I understood Copernicus and adopted it as an everyday tool,” wrote one participant, a fisheries officer.

Jean De Dieu Lerias Sonagnon Akpaca, a student in the Master’s in Oceanography and Applications (UAC/University of Toulouse), attended GGOSSS for the first time. In the modelling group, he and his team evaluated how an ocean model performs in the Gulf of Guinea. “I only remember positive moments, and above all a great deal of knowledge and skills that I will be able to draw on for the future.”

Michel Audrey Nana Bandé, a student in the same master’s at the ICMPA – UNESCO Chair, joined the remote sensing group, where she learned to track sea surface temperature, sea level, chlorophyll and surface winds from satellites. “I learned things I didn’t know.”

Julien Fernandez, 26, also in the master’s, studied the changing salinity of Lake Nokoué with the in-situ group, a subject close to him since the lake lies in the country where he studies. “It was very rewarding for me to work on this evolution and to see all the mechanisms at play.”

Their main request was more time: half of the trainees who suggested improvements asked for more hands-on practice.

Acknowledgements and next edition

GGOSSS 2026 was made possible by the European Union through the OPERA project, implemented by Mercator Ocean International, and by POGO, IRD and SCOR, with the ICMPA – UNESCO Chair as host. GGOSSS is endorsed as a UN Ocean Decade Action. The organizers thank all instructors, on site and online, the field and local teams, and the Port Autonome de Cotonou.

Lecture materials are openly available on the GGOSSS Zenodo community, and photos on Flickr.

After a first edition in Cameroon and this second edition in Benin, GGOSSS confirms its path as a long-term regional initiative that trains African scientists, strengthens cross-border collaboration and prepares a generation to meet the ocean’s challenges in the Gulf of Guinea. The third edition is planned for 2027 in Côte d’Ivoire.