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

Diabaté ST, Fraser NJ, McCarthy GD (2026) Bottom Friction in a Baroclinic Ocean: Influences on Sea Level and Slope Current. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 56 (5): 1125 - 1145. https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-24-0163.1

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