Projects

Research has been done since South Africa’s involvement in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic through various projects such as the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP) and South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI).

The South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI) is one of 13 large Research Infrastructures (RIs) developed by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) as part of the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR). The SAPRI was established in 2021 to ensure coordination of South African marine and Antarctic research as a national Big Science programme, providing seamless access to existing and new research infrastructure required to develop and enhance long-term observations of South Africa’s polar region. The SAPRI is designed as a consortium hosted at the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) and is divided into four Integrated Facilities (IFs): Data, Products & Society (DPS), Long-term Observations on Land (LTO-Land), Long-term Observations of the Ocean (LTO-Ocean) and the Polar Lab. The time period: 2022 - 2030.

Lead Research Representatives: Prof Marcello Vichi, Robyn Verrinder, Dr Tokoloho Rampai and Dr Riesna Audh

The WAM project (2024 - 2029) aims to understand how oxygen levels and biological productivity are connected along the west African coast, from the tip of South Africa up to the equator, and what this means for natural resources.

This coastline supports several important marine ecosystems that differ in their oxygen levels. We want to identify the key factors that control oxygen in these waters so we can better predict future changes in oxygen and biological productivity, and understand how these changes might affect ocean chemistry and marine ecosystems.

WHIRLS (2024 - 2030) - The impacts of ocean fine-scale whirls on climate and ecosystems

South African Master in Ocean Sciences (SAMOS, 2025 - 2028) - Erasmus+ European Commission

The EU-funded AtlantECO project (2020 - 2025) aimed to develop and apply a novel, unifying framework that provides knowledge-based resources for a better understanding and management of the Atlantic Ocean and its ecosystem services. AtlantECO will engage with citizens and actors from the industry and policy sectors in order to stimulate responsible behaviour and Blue Growth. The project focuses on three pillars of research: microbiomes, plastic and the plastisphere, and seascape connectivity. In pursuit of this goal, AtlantECO is bringing together experts and pioneers from Europe, South America and South Africa with the relevant resources, knowledge and experience.

Lead Research Representatives: Marcello Vichi, Emma Rocke, Natasha Karenyi, Leila Nefdt

Climate Relevant interactions and feedbacks: the key role of sea ice and Snow in the polar and global climate system.

Climate and Earth system models (ESMs) are key tools for projecting future climate change; however, these models have significant shortcomings regarding their descriptions of polar ocean-ice/snow-atmosphere interactions, limiting their effectiveness. The EU-funded CRiceS project (2021 - 2025) has increased the understanding of how rapid sea ice decline is interlinked with physical and chemical changes in the polar oceans and atmosphere. Consortium members will quantify the controlling chemical, biogeochemical and physical processes/interactions within the coupled ocean-ice/snow-atmosphere system through a comprehensive analysis of new and emerging in-situ and satellite observations. CRiceS will improve process, regional and climate models / ESMs to deliver improved quantification of feedback mechanisms within the Earth system.

Lead Research Representatives: Marcello Vichi, 

Tropical and South Atlantic Climate-based Marine Ecosystem Prediction for Sustainable Management

The main objective of TRIATLAS (2019-2023, H2020 All Atlantic Ocean Research Flagship, building on the Galway and Belém statements) is to assess the status of the South and Tropical Atlantic marine ecosystem and develop a framework for predicting its future changes, from months to decades, by combining ecosystem observations, climate-based ecosystem predictions and information on future socio-economic and ecosystem service changes, and thus to contribute to the sustainable management of human activities in the Atlantic Ocean as a whole.

TRIATLAS worked with 35+ partners, in three core research themes: 

• CT1 - Current state of the marine ecosystem,
• CT2 - Ecosystem changes: variability, controls and extremes, and
• CT3 - Climate and marine ecosystem prediction. 

Core themes C2 and C3 focused on three geographic case study areas, namely (1) the Atlantic basin as a whole, (2) the northeast Brazilian shelf and (3) the southern Benguela.

UCT is a major partner in TRIATLAS and contributes to all three core themes through two distinct research teams, i.e. the South African Research Chair in Marine Ecology and Fisheries (ME&F), itself part of MARIS and hosted in UCT’s Department of Biological Sciences, and the Nansen-Tutu-Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (NTC) in UCT’s Department of Oceanography.
The NTC team contributes to CT1 and CT2, and to the Atlantic Basis and southern Benguela case studies, whereas the ME&F team contributes to CT2 (co-leadership) and CT3, leading the southern Benguela case study.

Lead Research Representatives: Astrid Jarre, Serge Tomety, Founi M. Awo, Lynne Shannon, Samantha Grusd

2018 - 2026

ECO-ACE: Ecosystem-based adaptive capacity through community engagement

2022 - 2024

Lead Research Representatives: Louise Gammage, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, 

2022 - 2024, NRF (Earth System Science Research Programme)

- Led by Robyn Verrinder, Marcello Vichi

2021 - 2023 - NRF (South African National Antarctic Program)

2024 - 2026 - NRF (South African National Antarctic Program)

• Led by Marcello Vichi and Sarah Fawcett