Dr Sam Tiéfolo Diabaté


        Dr Sam Tiéfolo Diabaté on a research vessel, head and shoulder shot.

Researcher in physical oceanography

I am a physical oceanographer, and my primary interest lies in understanding how changes in offshore oceanic circulation influence coastal sea level. To this end I work with observations and model outputs. I also develop theoretical ideas in the form of equational frameworks: they help explaining how open ocean changes may be mediated to the coast. Besides, I am a sea-going oceanographer, who contributes to ocean circulation observations at basin scale and regional scale. I sailed primarily in the Northeast Atlantic on Irish and UK vessels. Finally, I have a long-standing interest for teaching and learning and in the past, I have taken multiple teaching responsibilities on for both the Geography Department and Theoretical Physics Department at Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland.

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Current research projects

Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP)

Ocean Dynamics Impacting Shelf Sea Level in Eastern Atlantic (ODISSEA)

WISPA: demonstrating the ability to use shore-launched autonomy for data harvesting from underwater sensor networks (eg. gathering seabed pressure measurements along the UK ocean boundary)

 

Past projects

ORACLES

ST Diabaté, NJ Fraser, M White, B Berx, L Marié, GD McCarthy (2025) On the wind-driven European shelf sea-level variability and the associated oceanic circulation. Continental Shelf Research 291: 1449-1471

ST Diabaté, D Swingedouw, JJM Hirschi, A Duchez, PJ Leadbitter, ID Haigh, GD McCarthy (2021) Western boundary circulation and coastal sea-level variability in northern hemisphere oceans. Ocean Science 17 (5): 1449-1471.

Diabaté, ST (2024) Coastal sea-level changes driven by oceanic and atmospheric circulation. PhD thesis. Maynooth University, Ireland.

 

Employment history

Since April 2025: Postdoctoral Research Associate; SAMS

Feb 2024 - Jan 2025: Junior Scientist in Physical Oceanography, Météo France, part of the Forecast Operational Direction (DirOP/MAR/RD); Toulouse, France

 

Education

PhD Physical Oceanography: Maynooth University, Ireland. 2024

MSc Ocean, Atmosphere and Climate Sciences: Université Toulouse III (France) and Université D'Abomey-Calavi (Benin). 2019

BSc Engineering Science. Le Mans Université, France. 2017