by Ria Olivier | Jun 21, 2022 | Antarctica, Current Event, International Days, Marion Island, News, Overwintering Team, Prince Edward Islands, SANAE, SANAP, Southern Ocean, Stations
Midwinter’s Day (21 June) is celebrated by the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP) overwintering teams on Antarctica (SANAE 61), Marion Island (Marion 79), and Gough Island (Gough 67).
Midwinter is the shortest day, and for those on Antarctica, the darkest day, of the year.
Overwintering teams from all over the world send greeting cards to each other, to family and friends, and to their national Antarctic program communities. We received greeting cards from the three SANAP overwintering teams, wishing all of you a happy midwinter!
Midwinter greetings from the 79th overwintering team on South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island.
On Antarctica, Midwinter is the midpoint of a time of darkness and extreme isolation and the SANAE team will also celebrate this today!
Midwinter greetings from the 61st SANAE Overwintering Team, on Antarctica.
Midwinter greeting from the 67th Gough Island Overwintering team!
We asked the teams what their plans are for today:
Marion Island: “We are having a nice braai and midwinter games”.
Gough Island: “We have actually already started our own midwinter tournament knockouts (with our semifinals and finals today)! We have a number of events including pool, table tennis, darts, fuzzball, checkers, chess and Mario Cart (TV game).
Quite an exciting lineup”.
SANAE IV: “We will celebrate with some midwinter games”.
Do you want to know more about the teams?
Click here to meet Marion 79!
Click here to meet Gough 67!
Click here to meet SANAE 61!
Thank you for the greeting cards SANAP teams, have a great day!
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 21 June 2022.
by Ria Olivier | Jun 19, 2022 | Announcement, Environment, Important Dates, International Days, Marion Island, Prince Edward Islands, Southern Ocean, sub-Antarctic
World Albatross Day was inaugurated by the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) in 2020 and is now celebrated annually on 19 June.
I have spent the past eight years in close contact with albatrosses, but have realised that many don’t really know of their existence and/or importance. World Albatross Day is a very important initiative to highlight the wonders of these special birds, as well as the threats they face on a daily basis.
Stefan Schoombie, a PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Cape Town. His research focus is on the behaviour of seabird species.
How did you end up working on seabirds in the sub-Antarctic?
After finishing a BSc (Hons) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2012, I had the opportunity to overwinter on Marion Island as part of the 70th overwintering expedition. During this expedition (2013-2014) I worked as a field assistant (for Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology), monitoring seabird colonies, and gathering data for my Master’s degree.
I was fortunate enough to join several more expeditions to Marion Island between 2015 and 2019, this time gathering data towards my PhD degree, while performing other research activities with the ultimate goal of seabird conservation.
Read more about Stefan’s research and publications here!
How would you describe your first encounter with an albatross?
The first albatross I encountered was a Wandering Albatross, sitting on a nest on Marion Island. The sheer size of the bird was unbelievable, but the fact that they are so calm in our presence was incredible. Adult albatrosses breeding on sub-Antarctic Islands have no natural predators while on land, and thus they are not as scared of us as most land birds that we are used to. However, the most amazing thing about a Wandering Albatross is when they open their wings and reveal a three-meter wingspan.
Swartkops hut (on the Western side of Marion Island) and hundreds of Wandering Albatross nests.
The different Albatross species on Marion Island are each unique in their own way. How would you describe the uniqueness of each species?
WANDERING ALBATROSS
By far the most impressive of the albatrosses when you are up close. I tracked the fine-scale movements of these birds for my PhD degree, resulting in a lot of close encounters with them. We also monitored hundreds of breeding birds, as part of a long-term monitoring program. I was fortunate enough to spend enough time on Marion Island to see albatross chicks grow up from tiny chicks up to the point where they were large and strong enough to fly off into the vast Southern Ocean skies. Part of my research included the use of bird-borne cameras, where we were able to see what the birds experienced from their point of view, giving me a new-found respect for the incredible flying capabilities of these birds.
SOOTY (OR DARK-MANTLED SOOTY) ALBATROSS
These were the first albatross species I worked with, while gathering data for my MSc. Part of my research included setting up a long-term monitoring colony of Sooty Albatrosses. This included marking a large number of birds with unique numbered rings, for identification, which is particularly challenging seeing that these are cliff-nesting birds. One of the most memorable things about Sooty Albatrosses is their calls, which echo along the cliffs as they call to their partners. They also perform a synchronised flight as part of their courtship which is something to behold.
LIGHT-MANTLED (OR LIGHT-MANTLED SOOTY) ALBATROSS
These birds are very similar to the Sooty Albatross and I conducted the same research as with the Sooty Albatrosses. Light-mantled Albatrosses are more common in the southern parts of the Southern Ocean, with Marion Island being their northernmost breeding ground. Thus, their population size is quite small on Marion and the birds are a bit more skittish than other species.
GREY-HEADED ALBATROSS
These are incredibly beautiful birds that are very photogenic, but their cliff-nesting behaviour makes them difficult to get close to. Apart from a small monitoring colony, we normally don’t come close to these birds and only perform annual counts with binoculars. However, in 2015 increases in attacks from invasive house mice resulted in us monitoring them much closer. Grey-headed Albatrosses breed in dense colonies which is like a very noisy, busy airport terminal, with birds landing and taking off all around you.
BLACK-BROWED ALBATROSS
Marion Island is not a breeding ground for Black-browed Albatrosses, but there is one vagrant individual that breeds with Grey-headed Albatrosses from time to time, resulting in hybrid offspring.
Seabirds of the sub-Antarctic are under threat due to unsustainable fishing practices, climate change, and invasive species. Currently, on Marion Island, the invasive house mice are threatening the albatross species living and breeding on this sub-Antarctic island. The Mouse-Free Marion Project (partnering with BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment) aims to remove the mice from Marion Island in 2024.
YOU CAN HELP SAVE MARION ISLAND’S SEABIRDS
View the ACAP Media Release for this Year’s Albatross Day
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 19 June 2022.
Images: Stefan Schoombie.
by Ria Olivier | May 18, 2022 | Announcement, Discover, Gateway cities, International Days, Prince Edward Island, Prince Edward Islands, Research, SA Agulhas II, SANAE, SANAP, Science, Southern Ocean, Stations, sub-Antarctic
Free entrance to Iziko Museums of South Africa today, 18 May 2022.
Visit the Sentinels of the South Exhibition at Iziko Museum of South Africa, Cape Town.
This exhibition will give you insight into the history, discoveries, and current role of South Africa’s Antarctic and Southern Ocean exploration. Read more here.
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 18 May 2022
by Ria Olivier | Mar 23, 2022 | Antarctica, Gough Island, Important Dates, International Days, Marion Island, Meteorology, Research, SA Agulhas II, SANAE, SANAP
Meteorological and oceanographic (met-ocean) data supplied by the South African Weather Service played an integral part in the recent and successful Endurance 22 expedition.
by Marc de Vos, Senior Scientist, South African Weather Service (SAWS) Marine Research Unit.
Carla-Louise Ramjukadh preparing to deploy a radiosonde (weather balloon). Find out more about a radiosonde – check out this video (click here).
The Endurance 22 expedition has returned from the Weddell Sea aboard the S.A. Agulhas II, having successfully located and surveyed the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legendary Endurance. For the safety of any maritime activity, information about the environmental conditions is important. Mariners constantly evaluate factors such as sea-state (the combined effect of wind and waves on the surface of the ocean), tides, and surface currents, all of which affect the navigability of the vessel. For highly specialised undertakings, this requirement becomes particularly acute. To assist, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) sent two scientists from its Marine Research Unit to provide meteorological and oceanographic (met-ocean) support to the expedition.
The first challenge associated with a voyage to the Weddell Sea is the transit from Cape Town, through the south Atlantic and the Southern Ocean. These ocean areas are characterised by a steady procession of midlatitude cyclones; storms that might be up to 2,000 km in diameter, bringing strong winds, high seas, and powerful underlying ocean currents. These are the phenomena behind the nicknames for the latitudinal bands through which the S.A. Agulhas II needed to transit; the “Roaring Forties”, “Furious Fifties” and “Screaming Sixties”. In particular, the Southern Ocean is widely regarded as the roughest on the planet. This is largely due to the lack of land boundaries to break the acceleration of the ocean’s surface by the wind. Careful planning is required to thread a route through the storms, themselves moving and morphing, and the high seas which lag behind them. This process (sometimes more of an art!) is a fine balance between speed, efficiency, and risk-limitation, and the SAWS team on board worked closely with the ship’s officers to determine the most suitable route to the search area. It is a challenging but exciting task. We use a mix of data from numerical models, free-drifting ocean instruments and satellites, and algorithms that assist to process these data. Ultimately, the experience of the ship’s officers and the exchange of information between scientists and navigators remain key in balancing the myriad of competing factors.
Upon arrival in the sea ice, different challenges arise. The sea ice might be up to 4 metres thick, with an average of around 1.5 m, and covers the search area entirely. A process of constant ice-breaking, repositioning, drifting with the ice, and deploying the autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to scan the sea bed begins (read more about these vehicles here). Whilst surveying the ship drifts with the ice, but the search area on the sea bed does not, and therefore it is vital to anticipate wind and tidal shifts such that the drift can be predicted and deployment of the AUVs planned accordingly. SAWS scientists worked closely to support the highly skilled sea ice specialists from Drift + Noise Polar Services to provide supplementary information of this nature.
Prediction and analysis are not the only tasks for met-ocean scientists on board. Throughout the voyage, regular weather/ocean observations were performed and a range of meteorological instruments was deployed. These included Argo floats (see image above), surface velocity program (SVP) weather buoys, Sofar Ocean Wave Spotter buoys, and atmospheric radiosondes. These instruments drift freely in the ocean (or rise through the atmosphere, in the case of the radiosonde), collecting and transmitting data in an-otherwise data sparse region. Data are processed and fed to global numerical weather/ocean prediction models to improve their predictions via a process called data assimilation. Generally, the more data supplied to models, the better their performance. In many cases, measurements from these instruments are also available in real-time, providing an excellent means to onboard scientists by which to “ground-truth” ocean/weather predictions. Finally, data are archived in climate databases, for future use by climate change researchers.
Being able to play a small role in the success of Endurance 22 feels like a career-defining moment. A historic event of this scale, having taken place in so beautiful and dramatic an environment, is a uniquely rewarding experience. I am humbled to have been asked to participate and immensely grateful to the leadership of the expedition. I am also thankful to fellow expedition members and particularly my on-board colleague, Carla-Louise Ramjukadh, along with shore-based colleagues Tania Daniels, Michael Barnes and Tammy Morris for their tireless support behind the scenes. Even in the modern world, where almost everything can be navigated digitally, the fundamental effects of meteorology and oceanography continue to affect every human on the planet. Young people looking for where to apply their skills and ambitions should be encouraged by this, and the incredible opportunities which our science often provides.
Text by Marc de Vos, Senior Scientist, South African Weather Service (SAWS) Marine Research Unit. Edited by Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 23 March 2022
by Ria Olivier | Mar 8, 2022 | Engineering, Genomics, International Days, News, Oceanography, Research, SA Agulhas II, Southern Ocean, STEM, sub-Antarctic, Women in Science
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “Break the Bias”.
This year we are featuring three inspiring women within the South African National Antarctic Programme. They are leaders in their fields and represent South Africa on an international level.
Prof Annie Bekker – Stellenbosch University
Professor in Engineering, Director of the Sound & Vibration Research Group, and currently on the international Endurance 22 expedition (Antarctica).
“My job is about applying maths and science to technology… discovering and searching for new things. It is sometimes difficult, it takes long hours, breakthroughs can be incremental… and many times the belief, momentum, and enthusiasm for success have to come from within myself… Today, I love my job and the hard work to this point is absolutely worth it. I could not get here without encouragement, love, and mentorship in key moments. I cannot continue without the support of my family, the example of my colleagues, or the curiosity of my students – their excellence and hunger for their own new frontiers of discovery.
This is your life. Invest in your education. Believe in yourself, try, try again, never give up. Be hungry to learn. Sharpen your skills. Absorb all that is positive around you. Find mentors. Accept responsibility. Rebound from failure. Celebrate success. Be brave. Dream”.
Check out the Sound & Vibraton Research Group website: svrg.sun.ac.za.
Read more about Annie’s work and adventures here.
Prof Isabelle Ansorge – University of Cape Town
Head of the Oceanography Department at UCT and mastermind behind South Africa’s first class afloat – SEAmester.
Isabelle Ansorge is an observational oceanographer, Professor, and first female Head of the Oceanography Department at the University of Cape Town. Having built an observational oceanography career both nationally and internationally, Prof. Ansorge’s interests lie in Indian, Atlantic, and Southern Ocean dynamics that include Southern Ocean eddy transports of heat and salt, frontal dynamics, and variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its effects on Subantarctic Islands such as Marion Island. Another passion of Isabelle’s is the shipboard training of postgraduate students from all over South Africa and she is the mastermind behind the SEAmester Floating University programme. SEAmester provides an incredible teaching and research platform for South African early-career scientists and lecturers alike. Prof. Ansorge’s list of affiliations is a testament to her extensive experience in the field including being a committee member of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), as a member of the start-up committee for the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), as an Executive Bureau Member of the International Union for Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) and formally the vice-president of the International Association for Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO).
Check out the SEAmester website: seamester.co.za.
Read more about Isabelle here.
Prof Bettine van Vuuren – University of Johannesburg
Professor of Zoology, Director of the Centre for Ecological Genomics and Wildlife Conservation, and Chair of the South African Committee for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SANC for SCAR).
“The first thing to say is that I believe there is nothing that any person can’t do if they apply their mind (and time) to it. We often set our own ceilings based on general beliefs that society or others impose on us, and it is crucial that we break through these (non-real) boundaries. STEM fields are a case in hand. This is especially true for women, who traditionally were seen as homemakers or child-carers. In STEM specifically, fields such as mathematics, physics, and engineering, and traditionally more field-based disciplines such as zoology, botany, or oceanography, are seen as more suited to men (either because women were not traditionally considered as analytically strong, capable to work in the field, or for that matter, be away from home for any period of time). It is critical that any person (both men and women) should carefully consider what they enjoy, what their specific strengths are (be that a STEM career for a woman, or as a childcarer/homemaker for a man), and then pursue that with all their strength and passion. Personally, I was initially directed into a field that I had no interest in (because I could not answer questions asked re where I would work if my husband lived in a small town), and from a personal perspective I strongly urge and support women that want to step out of the usual/ typical / what is expected from you by society and follow what they are passionate about”.
Follow Bettine on Twitter (Click here).
You can also visit her website: molzoolab.co.za.
Meet the SANC for SCAR committee here.
Read more about Bettine here.
Image of Prof Bekker supplied by: James-John Matthee.
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 08 March 2022
by Ria Olivier | Dec 1, 2021 | Antarctica, Important Dates, International Days, Not-Assigned, SANAE
Today, 62 years ago, 12 countries (including South Africa) signed the Antarctic Treaty. On the 1st of December 1959, Antarctica was set aside for peaceful and scientific purposes. This day is celebrated all over the world. Join the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) related celebrations, see events here. 
Currently, over 50 countries have signed the Antarctic Treaty. In the image (left), flags are displayed of countries (52 flags) that have signed the Antarctic Treaty by 2015. Read more about the treaty here.
Let us be reminded of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), held in Scotland earlier this year, where the Glasgow Climate Pact was made. We all need to work together to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. See what Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy commented on the outcomes of the international climate change talks at COP26 (click here).
An unnamed Antarctic glacier was named Glasgow, honoring the city where COP26 took place and new agreements were made to take rapid action against climate change (read more here).
The South African National Antarctic Programme contributes climate change research in the Antarctic, sub-Antarctic, including the Southern Ocean.
Want to know the history of the South African National Antarctic Expedition station? Read more about the current and previous South African stations here.
Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 1 December 2021
