From 15 to 19 August, State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics (SOED) invited Dr. Wenyan Zhang from the Institute of Coastal Systems, Helmholtz Center Hereon (Germany) to deliver an ocean-star open course “Sediment transport, morphodynamics and their role in ecosystem functioning”. This open course was delivered via video link, attracting more than 70 students and young scientists from universities and research institutions including Tsinghua University, East China Normal University, South University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Maritime University and Zhejiang Institute of Hydraulics and Estuary.

Online classroom of the open course “Sediment transport, morphodynamics and their role in ecosystem functioning”

At the beginning of the class, Dr. Zhang introduced principles of Sediment Transport and Morphodynamics. Then he guided students to explore the cutting-edged researches in this field and the interdisciplinary studies. Taking the historical development of self-organization in morphodynamics as the case study, Dr. Zhang not only demonstrated he complex interaction between hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics, but also inspired students to consider the deep mechanisms of natural phenomena from the perspective of different disciplines. Also, Dr. Zhang emphasized the importance of benthic biophysics in shaping the seabed landform, protecting the nearshore based on natural solutions, and regulating the carbon cycle process. More practically, Dr. Zhang systematically introduced numerical modeling and schemes of morphodynamics and ecosystems, and built a numerical model to study the coupling effect of hydrodynamic-sedimentary-ecological dynamic system, which helped the students to solidify their foundations for future research.

In the feedback questionnaire of this open course, most of the students thought participating in this open course benefited their study and work, and they are looking forward to attending more open courses organized by SOED to further enhance academic communication with peers and experts.