Nils Bang

Nils Daniel Bang (13 September 1941 - 2 December 1977) was a South African oceanographic scientist who was considered a pioneer^[1] in the study of coastal upwelling systems. He was the first to use the term retroflection,^[2][3][4] meaning "to turn back on itself", in an oceanographic sense, to describe the way the Agulhas Current, which runs down the east coast of Africa, turns abruptly^[5] back on itself in a hairpin bend. In March 1969, Bang initiated, planned and executed "South Africa's first truly multi-ship [oceanographical research] operation",^[6] the Agulhas Current Project, along the length of the current, with three ships including the University of Cape Town's research vessels, the Thomas B. Davie, and a Department of Sea Fisheries ship, the R.V. Africana II. Analysing the data that was collected, Bang sought a way to describe the nature of the current's flow and chose the word "retroflection", more commonly used to describe the way the mammalian intestine or uterus can curve back on itself. The term has since become common parlance among oceanographers. In the field of physical oceanography, in the fine structure of the coastal upwelling systems,^[7] Bang, along with Bill Andrews and Larry Hutchings, his counterparts in biological oceanography, produced work that was "universally acclaimed".^[8] Following studies of the Southern Benguela system off South Africa's west coast, he described the shelf edge frontal jet off the Cape Peninsula, which he named Good Hope Jet.^[9][10] At the time of his death, he was acting head of the Physical Oceanography Division of the National Research Institute for Oceanology at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (South Africa).^[11]

Nils Bang on board the HMS Hecla on 15 February 1966, during a Benguela Current research cruise

Biography

Early life and education

Nils Bang was born in Durban, South Africa, on 13 September 1941. His father was Daniel Nielson Bang, a Zulu linguist and son of Norwegian missionaries, and his mother was Anna Maria Bang (nee Linde), the daughter of Swedish Missionaries. He had a younger sister and brother, Anaida and Knut Olav. He attended Merchiston Preparatory School and later Harward, both in Pietermaritzburg. During his school years, he was a sea cadet and attended a Commonwealth sea cadet course in Britain. He studied first at the University of Natal (Durban), moving to the university's Pietermaritzburg campus after his first year, emerging with a B Sc (Hons) in Physical Geography in 1964. He then went on to the University of Cape Town where he was awarded a PhD in 1974. (Thesis:The Southern Benguela System: Finer Oceanic Structure and Atmospheric Determinants).

Marriage and children

He married Mary Alison Coombe, a midwife, on 21 August 1965, in Pietermaritzburg. He credited his inspiration for the "retroflection" metaphor to his wife who had taught him the term during her midwifery studies. In November 1967, their first daughter, Kirsten Linde, was born in Cape Town, followed by two more daughters, Solveig Marina in June 1970 and Janice Lise in July 1973.

Death

Nils Bang died, aged 36, of colon cancer, in Durban's Entabeni Hospital on 2 December 1977.^[12] At dawn on 27 January 1978, members of the CSIR staff along with his friend, retired Port Captain Jimmy Deacon, aboard the research ship, the Meiring Naude, committed his ashes to the sea between Umkomaas and Scottburgh on the Natal south coast.

Scientific career

Nils Bang's oceanographic research began in 1965 when he joined the Naval Oceanographic Research unit in Youngsfield, near Cape Town, then moved to the Oceanographic Institute at the University of Cape Town, where his key research work was accomplished.^[13] After a year of post-doctoral studies at the University of Bergen, Norway, he joined the newly-formed National Research Institute of Oceanography of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Durban, where he remained until his death.

References

1. ^ Gotthilf Hempel, Michael O’Toole and Neville Sweijd (editors)(2008). Benguela: Current of Plenty, A history of international cooperation in marine science and ecosystem management, Benguela Current Commission. p26. ISBN 978-0-620-42211-6
2. ^ J. R. E. Lutjeharms (2006). Three decades of research on the greater Agulhas Current. Ocean Sci. Discuss., 3, 939–995
3. ^ The Agulhas Current retroflection (2007), Related Papers, South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (SA MOC) workshops, Physical Oceanography Division (PhOD), Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory National Oceanic & Atmostpheric Administration. South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation workshop related papers
4. ^ Bang, N. D. and F. C. Pearce (1970) Hydrological data. Agulhas Current Project, March 1969. Institute of Oceanography, University of Cape Town. Data Report No.4, 26pp.
5. ^ Bennett, Sara L (1988). Where Three Oceans Meet: The Agulhas Retroflection Region. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6. ^ South African Journal of Science (January, 1978) Vol 74.
7. ^ Coastal Upwelling Ecosystems Analysis (January 1978) Vol 7
8. ^ Gotthilf Hempel, Michael O’Toole and Neville Sweijd (editors)(2008). Benguela: Current of Plenty, A history of international cooperation in marine science and ecosystem management, Benguela Current Commission. p26. ISBN 978-0-620-42211-6
9. ^ Bang, N. D., and W. R. H. Andrews (1974), Direct current measurements of a shelf-edge frontal jet in the southern Benguela system, Journal of Marine Research, 32, 405 – 417
10. ^ South African Journal of Science (January 1978) Vol 74
11. ^ Sciendaba (15 December 1977). Vol XII No 48
12. ^ South African Journal of Science (January 1978) Vol 74
13. ^ South African Journal of Science (January 1978) Vol 74