Dr. Anya Waite, CEO and scientific director for the Ocean Frontier Institute, recently returned from an award ceremony in Japan, where she received the prestigious Yoshida Award for 2024.
The Yoshida Award, bestowed by the Oceanographic Society of Japan to commemorate the late Professor Kozo Yoshida, recognizes outstanding contributions to the advancement of ocean upwelling research. This includes physical, chemical, and biological phenomena and their effects on climate and ecosystems.
Dr. Waite was selected as the 2024 recipient of the award in recognition of her long-standing achievements in cross-disciplinary oceanography, specifically her focus on the effects of eddies on ecosystem dynamics in the Leeuwin Current region of the eastern Indian Ocean. During the ceremony, Dr. Waite had the opportunity to present her research on upwelling controls and impacts to the distinguished researchers and fellow award recipients at the ceremony.
The ocean’s role in climate change
While in Japan, Dr. Waite also travelled to Tohoku University in Sendai to meet with the founders of the new Advanced Institute for Marine Ecosystem Change (WPI-AIMEC), which aims to better understand how ecosystems respond and adapt to changes in the marine environment. The biological carbon pump, a mechanism through which the ocean naturally sequesters carbon, is a key focus for both WPI-AIMEC and the Ocean Frontier Institute, and a potential area for future collaboration.
During the visit to Tohoku University, Dr. Waite also gave a successful seminar focused on the ocean’s role in climate change.
She presented research on the physical properties of the ocean that are impacting the transport and sequestration of carbon and provided an overview of the Transforming Climate Action research program and its key objectives:
- Reducing international uncertainty about ocean carbon sequestration
- Making Canada a global leader in the mitigation of carbon emissions
- Promoting just and equitable adaptation
Dr. Waite also discussed the mitigation of carbon fluxes and coastal adaptation in eastern Canada. Going forward, OFI plans to continue this dialogue with the Advanced Institute for Marine Ecosystem Change with the aim of building new research collaborations between our institutes.
