Inga KoszalkaAssociate professor

Teaching certificates:

Basics of University Teaching (Stefan Braun, Hochschuldidaktik.de): 2017.

Professional development course (Universitetslärarutbildning UL1), 7.5 ECTS, Stockholm University, 2020.

Professional development course NatFak (Universitetslärarutbildning UL2), 7.5 ECTS, Stockholm University, 2020.

Course development:

Developed Master Course Physical Oceanography (MO8013 MISU) by adding an observational module (a student cruise and data analysis lab) in  collaboration with the Baltic Sea Centre (2019-): eng, sv

Organized and co-taught three PhD-level courses on Neural Networks for Beginners (2019; 2 days each; 1 in Germany, 2 SeRC/CIM in Sweden accredited 3 ECTS each)

Self-designed Master Course Lagrangian Analysis and Dispersion (5 ECTS; 2016 & 2018)

Self-designed PhD course Statistics for Climate Applications (2 days; 2018)

Teaching experience at MISU (2019-):

In HT23 (Fall) I will be the lecturer and course responsible for Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (MO8009), Physical Oceanography (MO8013) as well as Dynamical Meteorology (MO4002/MO8002).

Lecturer and course responsible for Master Course Physical Oceanography (MO8013), Lecture + Tutorial including oceanographic cruise with students (R/V ELECTRA, in collaboration with the Baltic Sea Centre). 7.5 ECTS: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022-

Lecturer and course responsible for Master Course Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (MO8009), Lecture. 7.5 ECTS: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022-

Co-teacher for PhD Course Advanced Oceanography, Lectures: 2020 & 2023.

Co-teacher for PhD Course Advanced Mathematical Methods, Lectures: 2021- (bi-annual; course responsible from 2023 onwards).

Co-teacher of a PhD course Neural Networks for Beginners featuring an invited
lecturer Prof. Ribana Roscher, University of Bonn and Osnabrück, Germany. The course
consisted of 3 days of lectures and tutorials with Python/TensorFlow. The course was given twice, as a SeRC (Swedish e-Science Centre) course on Frescati Campus, and as a CIM (Centre for Interdisciplinary Mathematics) course at Uppsala University. The courses were accredited 3 ECTS each and given in 2019.

Teaching experience at GEOMAR/CAU-Kiel (2015-2018)

During years 2015-2019 I held a position of Junior Professor at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Kiel University (CAU), Germany, where I contributed to the Bachelor Program in Physics of the Earth System (Physik des Erdsystems), the Master Program in Climate Science (bi-annual turnover) and PhD–level courses.

Bachelor level:

Measurement Methods in Oceanography (tutor on oceanographic students, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018);

Introduction to Oceanography (Lecture, co-teacher, 2016, 2017)

Master level:

Data Analysis and Statistics Lecture, 5 ECTS (2017, 2018)

Lagrangian analysis and Dispersion (Lecture+Tutorial, self-designed), 5 ECTS (2016, 2018)

Thermohaline Circulation Tutorial, 2.5 ECTS (2015, 2017);

PhD level:

Statistics for Climate Applications 2 days (2018)

Research Integrity, 1 ECTS (2017)

Neural Networks for Beginners (organizer), 2 days (2019).

Other teaching experience:

Spring 2013: Geophysical Turbulence and Transport Graduate Course (AS.270.620), Johns Hopkins University, co-lecturer with Prof. Anand Gnanadesikan.

2001/2002: Teaching Assistant in Remote Sensing and Polar Meteorology for Prof. Yngvar Gjessing at University Courses of Svalbard (UNIS).

The Baltic Sea Fellows

I am one of the members of the interdisciplinary network of young Baltic Sea researchers at Stockholm University. More information about our group can be found here.

Dynamics of the upwelling/downwelling systems in the Baltic Sea

Matteo Masini joined my group as a PhD student in September, 2021 and has been working with me, Johan Nilsson (MISU) and Bo Gustafsson (The Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre). He is currently a protocol of idealized MITgcm model configurations to investigate development of the upwelling/downwelling coastal jets in the Western Gotland Basin and the baroclinic instability processes, with focus on the impact of the bathymetry. Contact Matteo if you would like to learn more!

DriftBloomClim Project

The surface drifter project DriftBloomClim (Founder: The Bolin Centre for Climate Research RA3 and the SU Baltic Sea Centre)
Six specially designed surface drifters were deployed in the Western Gotland Basin in August/October 2021 to quantify turbulent transport and wind drift in the Baltic Sea and to evaluate the available ocean forecast models to represent these processes. The first results suggest that the velocity output from ocean forecast models is able to represent the drift within a few km over a 2-3 day, and further improvement can be achieved through adjusting time step and the Lagrangian model. The project is a collaboration between the Bolin Centre for Climate Research and the Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre. This is a first phase of an larger effort by the team Inga Koszalka (MISU)  and Agnes Karlson (DEEP) to develop forecast models for algae blooms in the Baltic Sea, that we aim at conducting in the future. Read more about the project here: sv, eng

Drifter project 2022

Wind drift, turbulent transport and impacts on biogeochemistry

The surface drifter project continues and we are developing own drifters for studies of circulation in the Baltic Sea and its impacts on biogeochemical processes like oxygen dynamics and plankton blooms (Founder: The Bolin Centre for Climate Research RA2)

Under 2022 I got funding support from the Bolin Centre RA2 and teamed up with MISUs engineer Joachim Dillner to develop and build surface drifter platforms at MISU tailored to study coastal flows in the Baltic Sea and their impact on biogeochemistry and marine ecosystem. We estimated that making drifters ourselves would decrease the cost per unit drifter and make the design more flexible (anchoring drifters at various depths, possible montage of additional sensors in the future). In spring 2022 MISU’s technician Joachim Dillner and myself designed the drifters based on existing platforms (CODE, CARTHE), tech-oceanographic literature as well as Joachim Dillner’s experience. Joachim prototyped several possible designs for the drifter float and drogue, optimizing between the material cost, durability and working time. We built 10 drifter platforms with flexible mounting solutions (two different designs of floating buoy made of foam, additive anchors plastic and wooden versions for two different deployment depths). We got a deal with Global Telesat Communications (GTC) to purchase and test 8 of their new solar-paneled Iridium EdgeSolar units for satellite tracking of the drifters. The larger EdgeSolar units required a re-design of the drifters and a new solution for the waterproof casing (eventually, the Tefal lunch boxes proved the most optimal solution).

We test-deployed 3 drifters during the Master Course MO8013 cruise with R/V ELECTRA to the Western Gotland Basin on 2022-11-10. All 3 drifters transmitted their positions during ca. 3 h test period and were recovered on the way back. Two of the drifters were redeployed at the end of the cruise for a “long mission” to sample in-situ a development of an upwelling jet. The drifter trajectories confirmed the expectation regarding the ocean circulation. The two drifters followed the coastal upwelling jet in the north-east direction, but while one of them continued doing so for 4.5 days straight, the second drifter made an slight excursion offshore over the slope after about two days where it got trapped in an eddy, taking a swing around the Landsort Deep. Around 16 November the winds changed the direction to south easterly and then easterly, causing the drifters to turn south and towards the eastern coast of Sweden. These easterly winds brought also a historic snowfall (50 cm/day over two days) and snowstorms during the weekend 19-21 November. One of the drifters was recovered by the Sjöfärtsverket. The second drifter stranded on the island of Häradsskär at the end of November. It was left transmitting in the hope of the recovery as well as to further test the solar-paneled EdgeSolar and waterproof casing solution. At the time of the writing, the drifter has been transmitting its positions for 3 months straight at 15 min sampling rate. 

In summary, the drifter experiment was very successful. The design worked well, and we collected a lot of information about the technical aspects with drifters as well as the regional circulation in the Western Gotland Basin. The Edgesolar and Tefal waterproof cases worked very well - in spite of the harsh weather conditions and stranding.

A press release from the student cruise with R/V ELECTRA in November 2022 is available here: cruise-nov22

Impacts of physical processes on coastal oxygen variability

I am also working in a project led by Volker Brüchert, Stockholm University, investigating variability of the bottom oxygen in the coastal Baltic Sea. I am supporting the PhD student, Jonas Friedriksson, with analyses in a detective work trying to pin down the role of physical processes (Ekman flows, baroclinic Kelvin waves, internal waves, seiche) on measured oxygen variability.

Back to home page: Inga Homepage.

Basal melt and melt driven circulation in Greenland's fjords

In spring 2020, master student Ziqi Yin completed a master thesis about idealized simulations of a glacial fjord using the VEROS model.  I am continuing syudies of basal melt and melt-driven circulation in fjord under Ice-FEM-Ocean, a collaborative pair-PhD project with Josefin Ahlkrona (Dpt. Math, SU) our PhD students Stefano Ottolenghi and Jonathan Wiskandt and colleagues Christian Helanow (Math) and Johan Nilsson (MISU)

Alongside the FEM model development, my PhD student Jonathan Wiskandt used an idealized configuration of the MITgcm model to study the basal melt and melt-driven circulation in the ice cavity beneath the Ryder Glacier, nortwestern Greenland, based on observations collected by Prof. Johan Nilsson and colleagues during Ryder 2019 expedition. Jonathan's model experiments elucidated dependence of the basal melt rates on oceanic thermal forcing due to Atlantic Water intruding into deep layers of the Shepard Osborn fjord where the Ryder Glacier terminates, as well as impact of the subglacial discharge. We submitted a manuscript in late November 2022. Contact Jonathan if you would like to learn more about this study.

Ocean circulation in the Irminger Basin & the East Greenland Shelf

The Greenland's shelf circulation was the focus of researcher appointment at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, US. In Koszalka et al 2013b, I used Lagrangian simulations and a high resolution regional (MITgcm) model output to map pathways of the dense Denmark Strait Overflow (DSO) on the East Greenland Shelf hinted previously by sparse observations. I also investigated travel times and property transformation of dense water masses represented by model particles. In Von Appen et al 2014 we used backward Lagrangian simulations to investigate origins of a recently discovered current in the Irminger Basin, the intermediate-water Spill Jet, a potential contributor to the variability of the Deep Western 2Boundary Current (and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation). In Von Gerderloos et al 2017 we used backward Lagrangian simulations to map Atlantic warm water pathways toward the Kangerdlugssuaq fjord-glacier system. I have further studied inflow of the warm Atlantic Water towards the Greenland's marine-terminating glaciers under the FeedMeltPath–GROCE project at GEOMAR Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany, and with a master student, Mia Sophie Specht.

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The turbulent flows (eddies, jets, fronts) determine distribution of constituents suspended in the ocean (tracers): temperature, salinity, nutrients, marine algae and polluting agents. The turbulence also mediate the energy transfer between the large scale currents and the small scales where it is dissipated. The observation, quantification, as well as proper representation (parameterization) of turbulent transport in ocean climate models remains a major challenge for oceanography. The turbulent transport can be quantified by the spreading (dispersion) and the rate of spreading (diffusivity) of a cloud of drifting instruments (drifters, floats) deployed in a real ocean flow. Equivalently, it can be quantified by the rate of spreading of a cloud of numerical particles dispensed in a modelled ocean flow. Lagrangian analysis is a research field that studies ocean flow though analysis of motion of particles or instruments carried by ocean flow. Lagrangian modelling considers simulations of particles using velocity data outputted from ocean models or estimated from satellite pictures.

Lagrangian analysis modelling has been in my focus since my doctoral study of mesoscale ocean vortices (eddies) and the associated turbulent transport (Koszalka et al 2009a). Subsequently, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oslo under a POLEWARD project that featured a then-date-largest drifter pair experiment that took place in the Nordic Seas. It allowed to exhaustively assess surface turbulent transport with help of relative particle statistics (Koszalka et al 2009b). I also worked on development of methods for Lagrangian analysis including machine learning techniques (Koszalka & LaCasce 2010) that allowed to map the surface flow field in the Nordic Seas at an unprecended resolution (Koszalka et al 2011); to develop and apply stochastic particle (Markov) models to study propagation of warm water anomalies in the Nordic Seas poleward toward the Arctic (Koszalka et al 2013a) and to compare the surface turbulent transport diagnostics (eddy fluxes) from drifter data, satellite imagines and model output (Isachsen et al 2012). For full publication list from this project, see here.

I also worked with my students and colleagues addressing application of turbulent dispersion and diffusivity to evaluate transport representation in regional ocean models (Rühs et al 2018), comparison of the tracer-derived and Lagrangian diagnostics for turbulent transport (Wagner et al 2019) as well as quantification of cooling of the warm Atlantic Water in the Lofoten Basin using 2D and 3D Lagrangian simulations and with respect to the seasonal variations (Dugstad et al 2019).

I have also contributed to a community review article about Lagrangian analysis (Van Sebille et al 2018) and another one about drifting instruments (Centurioni et al 2019) where you can find more background information about Lagrangian analysis, modelling and observations.

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During my PhD work I studies dynamics of ocean eddies using quasigeostrophic (QG) models as well as an idealized-realistic configuration of a strongly stratified ocean forced by wind of a regional circulation model (ROMS). Major findings were a strong dominance of anticyclonic vortices linked to the straining field exerted by vortex Rossby waves and strong vertical velocities due to interplay of eddies, vortex Rossby waves, and internal waves (Koszalka et al 2009a). In Koszalka et al (2010) I demonstrated that the vortices can act like islands of increased penetration of wind energy into the ocean interior and enhanced vertical mixing, and assessed how these eddy.mediated processes relate to the ambient stratification and how they can be affected by the climate change.

In my PhD I also studies interactions between the turbulent flow and plankton dynamics represented by theoretical mathematical models. For example, in Koszalka et al (2007), I showed that spatio-temporal variability coupled with advection by mesoscale eddies can disguise limit-cycle behavior in observed plankton abundance, thus prompting for a greater care in interpreting results from homogeneous plankton models.

The questions of the turbulent eddy dynamics and the associated transport have been returning in different context thoughout my career.

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