Adriano Giangiardi successfully defended his undergraduate honors thesis on December 14, 2022. With the thesis titled “The Interannual Variability of the Brazil Current System”,  Adriano was advised by Prof. Ilson Silveira (University of São Paulo, Brazil), MSc. Leilane Passos (University of Bergen, Norway) and Prof Amit Tandon (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth). In this work, Adriano used the outputs of a global reanalysis product to compute the volume transport of the western boundary currents off Brazil over 27 years.  His analysis shows that while the Brazil Current (BC) is not changing at 22°S, it is surprisingly strengthening at 34°S. Furthermore, the BC showed a moderate correlation with El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Part of this thesis was developed when Adriano visited us in Tandon lab at UMass Dartmouth during Spring 2022. The impact of Adriano’s work can be seen through the honorable mention for Exact and Earth Sciences at the undergraduate symposium of the University of São Paulo in Brazil and the best poster award in physical oceanography session at the Intercampus Marine Science (IMS) symposium held at UMass Dartmouth in March 2022.

Congratulations Adriano!

Adriano with his title slide after his successful defense.