Pretoria - The SA Agulhas II has returned from a successful winter research expedition, the Department of Environmental Affairs said on Sunday.
In collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the CSIR, the research voyage which left Cape Town in July, saw researchers gathering physical‚ biological and chemical oceanographic data.
This was the first high resolution experiment to span a full seasonal cycle in the Southern Ocean using a combination of a ship (the SA Agulhas II), robotics platforms such as buoyancy gliders, wave gliders and bio-optics floats as well as high resolution models and satellite observations, the department said.
“The first high resolution measurements in winter, which reveal the characteristics of phytoplankton primary productivity and carbon draw down, were taken as well as Isotopic measurements that investigate the role of the Southern Ocean in driving past glacial and interglacial climate cycles.”
Other research highlights included the Bio-optical characterisation of the winter phytoplankton community towards new and improved remote sensing ocean colour algorithms, as well as the measurements that fill the gaps in the ocean atmosphere CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) flux record.
The expedition also saw successful collections of trace metal Fe (Iron) concentrations to resolve the seasonal supply and demand mechanism of the phytoplankton community in winter.
“This was the second winter survey ever conducted on density and distribution of Southern Ocean pelagic bird species.”
South Africa plays a fundamental role in Southern Ocean research as it is the closest country to Antarctica. – SAnews.gov.za
