Helga do Rosario Gomes. Goa-origin Scientist

[Themistocles D'Silva]

Dr. Helga do Rosario uses satellite data to study climate change and
its effect on ocean biogeochemistry.
Recently, she has been studying how human activities in coastal
megacities are changing the biodiversity
of the Arabian Sea and the repercussions for the food chain.

[Helga Do Rosario Gomes]

Thanks a lot Themistocles, for showcasing my work.
Yes we have recently found that new planktonic blooms are emerging in the Arabian Sea, not palatable to most other organisms up the food chain, with major repercussions for food security especially for those communities that live along the coast. I did some back of the envelope calculations a few years ago and found that about 120 million people live along the coast of the Arabian Sea and marine resources form a major protein source for them.
I have recently been involved in a NASA project that seeks to use satellites to map the immense biodiversity of South Africa’s Greater cape floristic region, a hotspot of biodiversity especially a group of plants collectively known as FYNBOS (Afrikaans), beautiful plants often with gorgeous flowers that can thrive in environments that are nutrient poor, sandy, windy, with very little water and many are actually dependent on fires to disperse their seeds and to kill off invasive plants.
During our 6 week field program there I was fortunate (thanks to Vivek) to meet a fellow Goan Jean Hromnik, a member of goa book club and a fount of information of the cape region. On an earlier trip I met a young student Ayesha, who told me that her grandmother speaks Konkani which I was kind of skeptical about until again Vivek told me of a large Konkani speaking community in South Africa.
Best,
Helga


Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 13, 2023, at 05:37, Themistocles D'Silva <themis...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dr. Helga do Rosario uses satellite data to study climate change and

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> <Helga do Rosario Gomes.pdf>