Nils Bang

Nils Daniel Bang (13 September 1941 – 2 December 1977) was a South African oceanographic scientist who was a pioneer in the study of the fine structure of coastal upwelling systems. In March 1969, Bang initiated, planned and executed South Africa's first truly multi-ship oceanographical research operation, the Agulhas Current Project, along the current's length. Although the research was conducted on a limited budget and with rudimentary equipment, Bang's studies using thousands of closely spaced bathythermograph readings were later corroborated by satellite imagery and airborne radiation thermometry.

In the field of physical oceanography, in the fine structure of coastal upwelling systems, Bang—along with W.R.H (Bill) Andrews and Larry Hutchings, his counterparts in biological oceanography—produced work that was acclaimed in their field. Bang's work shed light on the dynamics of the interleaving water masses of the frontal zone in coastal upwelling systems and the meandering of the front.

At the time of his death, aged 36, Bang 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).

Nils Bang's oceanographic research began in 1965 when he joined the Naval Oceanographic Research unit in Youngsfield, near Cape Town. He then moved to the Oceanographic Institute at the University of Cape Town, where his key research was accomplished. In June 1965, he was selected as South Africa's representative on board the US research ship, Atlantis II, the flagship of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to take part in the multi-ship International Indian Ocean Expedition, which he accompanied on a traverse of the continental shelf from Maputo to Durban—researching the evolution and significance of submarine canyons—and then on to Australia, visiting oceanographic institutions there. After post-doctoral studies at the Geophysical Institute, 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.

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