Projects

South Africa has recognised the importance of Polar research by establishing the South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI) initiative (2022 - 2030), championed by the DSTI through the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR). SAPRI is a consortium led by the SA Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), and UCT, through MARIS, is the host of one of the integrated facilities called Polar Lab. Infrastructural funding worth ~R90 millions have been allocated by DHET to UCT for contributing to the building, which is currently undergoing the UCT feasibility study under the name Digital & Polar Labs. This building is an innovative research, training, and awareness facility that hinges on infrastructure sharing and interdisciplinarity. The Labs are conceived as physical, accessible spaces that increase the proximity to remote “inaccessible” spaces and our capability for decision making through combined physical experiments and digital technologies. The remote South African Antarctic base SANAE IV, the icebreaker SA Agulhas II crossing the Southern Ocean, a township in Gauteng or a rural village in the Eastern Cape can be made virtually closer and investigated or redesigned by means of digital technologies and the possibility to simulate their more peculiar conditions in virtual or controlled setups.

The Polar Lab is the cold core of this infrastructure, designed to be the first laboratory for conducting experiments in a sub-zero temperature-controlled environment in Africa. African scientists and technicians can be exposed and trained to the polar science and technology without the need of leaving the continent and participating to limited and expensive research cruises in Antarctica. The facility supports polar research activities across science and engineering disciplines, including the training of scarce-skill glaciologist students, as well as offering services to external customers and to research scientists nationally and internationally: 

1. Near-zero and sub-zero experiments with biological specimens from the polar ocean, sub-Antarctic islands and the Antarctic continent;
2. Artificial sea ice creation in wave tanks and study of wave-ice-atmosphere-ocean interactions (one of the few facilities in the world to use seawater);
3. Sub-zero testing and analysis of physical, mechanical and biogeochemical properties of artificial and natural ice samples;
4. Cold storage capacity of ice samples, biological cultures and geological samples;
5. Development and testing of digital autonomous observation platforms for extreme environments;
6. Calibration of acquired commercial instruments, including ocean gliders and other large autonomous devices;
7. Digital laboratories to facilitate digital twinning of Antarctic and ocean platforms, to provide facilities for teaching and learning and provide access to information to national partners.

Phase 1 started in 2022 and focused on the implementation of two modular sub-zero laboratories to carry out research in polar sciences on the African continent, and the initial collection and organization of existing and new equipment for field research on Antarctic sea ice. The two containers will eventually be positioned inside the building, and they have been provisionally located in the UCT Upper Campus in the proximity of the Chemical Engineering building, establishing an open-air “Polar Park”. There are 2 modular labs (see figure below) each specific for environmental simulations in subzero conditions or processing of samples under subzero conditions:

The Simulation lab includes an experimental room and an observation/control room for the following type of research:

• “cold” to sub-zero physical-biological experiments to simulate the sub-Antarctic and polar environments
• Smart sensors that give temperature profiles over long periods of time
• 3D reactors with controllable heating zones
• Special lighting with programmable time, frequency and intensities
• Quasi-2D cells for qualitative and quantitative assessments of artificial sea ice experiments

The Process lab is composed of one room that can be temperature-controlled from -5°C to -30°C to perform various types of sample processing:
• Custom bandsaw for cutting samples
• Custom lathe and milling machines for processing samples
• Shelving for sample storage and shelving for additional equipment for testing samples
• testing of equipment performance under sub-zero conditions

MARIS also supports SAPRI in the planning of scientific expeditions in the Southern Ocean on board the SA Agulhas II, in the framework of the South African National Antarctic Program (SANAP). The collaboration started in 2019 during the SCALE program (Southern oCean seAsonaL Experiment) which was a novel interdisciplinary experiment that spanned multiple seasonal cycles in the south east Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean from 2019 to 2022. SCALE produced both medium-term and synoptic experimental observations towards a greater understanding of the role of fine scale dynamics in shaping the phasing and magnitude of the Southern Ocean seasonal cycles through novel integrated ship and robotics experiments. During SCALE and in the following SAPRI activities, the MARIS team contributed to cruise coordination and logistics in virtue of its management capabilities and leadership.

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

The WAM project (2024 - 2029) is one of the prestigious Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute (OBVI) projects funded through Schmidt Sciences. The project started in 2024 and is coordinated by MARIS, which positioned the institution at the forefront of international efforts to address critical gaps in ocean data and modelling. The OBVI initiative aims to enhance the scope of research in ocean biogeochemistry while expanding global capacity to comprehend and manage ocean resources. With MARIS leading one of the five selected projects, South Africa plays a central role in shaping future strategies for sustainable ocean management. The project relies on the internationally renowned Marine Biogeochemistry Lab at UCT, and the other partners of WAM are: CSIR-SOCCO, Stellenbosch University, Princeton University, and the Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

WAM aims to identify the organizing principles underlying the West African margin’s oxygen dynamics to develop regional predictive capacity for oxygen and productivity as well as the biogeochemical and ecosystem-level implications of changes in these variables. The future of ocean oxygenation and productivity is highly uncertain, in part because of the array of processes involved, ranging from global-scale atmospheric circulation cells to complex coastal currents. Through coupling measurements and modelling, the WAM team aims to determine the inter-related controls on oxygen and productivity along the west African margin, from the tip of South Africa to the equator, and to identify implications for natural resources. The project will be innovative in its merging of temporal and spatial sampling scales, connecting oceanographic cruises to more continuous occupation of key regions using gliders equipped with biogeochemical, physical, and biological sensors. Simulations with advanced multi-resolution ocean models and their comparison with the observations will clarify processes, quantify rates, and evaluate impacts for the region’s ecosystems and people. The WAM team will work to build marine measurement, monitoring, and modelling capacity in Africa to better serve the needs of its people.

Find out more here.

Lead Research Representatives: Assoc Prof. Sarah Fawcett (UCT Lead P.I), Dr Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Dr Moagabo Ragoasha and Prof Lynne Shannon

Fine-scale ocean dynamics play an important role in the exchange of heat and carbon between the ocean and the atmosphere. They influence the ocean’s ability to mitigate climate change, as well as how the ocean is affected by climate change. Funded by the European Research Council (ERC), the WHIRLS project zooms in on such fine-scale processes and explores their impact on climate, marine biogeochemistry and biodiversity. Physical oceanographers with specialisation in modelling and observations and biogeochemists from Germany, France, Sweden and South Africa work together to improve our understanding of the ocean’s fine scale, and our ability to predict future changes in our ocean and climate.

The funding period of WHIRLS is from 1st June 2024 to 31st May 2030.

Lead Research Representatives: Assoc Prof. Sarah Fawcett (UCT Lead P.I)

This ongoing project (2024 to 2026), which is a collaboration between UCT, NMU and CNR (Italy), aims to enhance sea-ice tethered autonomous platforms for seasonal large-scale observations, expand ship-based sensing using radar and LiDAR on the SA Agulhas II, leverage satellite remote sensing to integrate with in situ measures of waves and ice in the marginal ice zone (MIZ), and collate these data for process-based models and climate predictions relevant to South Africa. Building on earlier SHARC buoy developments, the team is refining ice-tethered platforms and adding sensing capabilities, low-temperature power systems, and imaging rigs for sustained deployment in polar conditions. In parallel, we are applying and adapting SAR inversion techniques to retrieve wave-ice and floe size characteristics, enabling comparison and integration with in situ datasets.

This project is funded by the NRF South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP).

Lead Research Representatives: Robyn Verrinder, Prof Marcello Vichi

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

SAMOS involves nine South African universities: Nelson Mandela University, University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Rhodes University, University of Fort Hare, Walter Sisulu University and University of Zululand. Two institutions hosting national research infrastructures are also included in the initiative, providing teaching material and support facilities (i.e. access to laboratories, ship time, data archives, etc.): the South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) and the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON). The international partners are the University of Western Brittany (SAMOS project coordinator), the University of Montpellier, the University of Bergen, the French Institute for Sustainable Research and Development, and the Nansen Environmental Remote Sensing Centre, also from Norway.

Coastal Adaptation Planning False Bay, City of Cape Town (2025 - 2026) - Agencie France Developpement

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.

The AtlantECO project brought together more than 30 international partners 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. MARIS researchers had a leading role in the project, by leading the model development work package in which novel Lagrangian approaches have been designed to improve marine biogeochemical models, and by participating to the augmented set of observations. A flagship expedition of AtlantECO was Mission Microbiomes, a circum-Atlantic sampling campaign inspired by Tara Oceans (See figure below). Its aim was to map the diversity and function of marine microbiomes, from viruses to plankton across key Atlantic regions and seasons.
MARIS played a central role in the African legs of Mission Microbiomes, leading the science from Cape Town to Walvis Bay. Contributions included expedition planning and at-sea operations, coordinating the sampling along the highly productive Benguela Upwelling System. We collected plankton, microbial DNA/RNA, microplastics, and 30+ physical-chemical parameters to capture microbial, viral, and biogeochemical dynamics in the Benguela upwelling region. We embedded South African and Namibian students and early-career researchers on board, ensuring local technology transfer and training in advanced ocean genomics. Post-cruise, our team lead full end-to-end processing including pre-filtration, nucleic acid extraction, and multi-omics library preparation (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics). Bioinformatic processing was performed on UCT’s high-performance computing platform, resulting in the generation of high-quality datasets of microbial community composition, viral diversity, functional gene repertoires, and associated environmental metadata. This effort feeds directly into AtlantECO’s Atlantic-scale ecosystem models and microbial biodiversity assessments. Results from these samples are in progress for publication in leading international journals. All manuscripts are being prepared in close collaboration with AtlantECO consortium members across Europe, the USA, and Brazil, ensuring global reach and shared ownership of the data.

Lead Research Representatives: Prof Marcello Vichi, Dr Emma Rocke, Dr Natasha Karenyi, Ms 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: Prof Marcello Vichi

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

The main objective of the TRIATLAS Project (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 was a major partner in TRIATLAS and contributed 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.

MARIS researchers contributed largely on two fronts:

• Understanding drivers of fishing pressure in the southern Benguela. Drawing on an approach developed by NOAA fisheries and in collaboration with researchers from NOAA fisheries, UCT researchers developed a prototype set of social vulnerability indices for the southern Benguela (western Cape) to understand drivers of fishing pressure in this area. The work focused on indices that capture both social and economic dimensions of coastal fishing communities. Using census data, the team identified patterns of reliance on fishing and exposure to broader social pressures such as gentrification. These indicators provide an entry point for assessing community resilience and highlight the importance of including human dimensions alongside ecological ones in fisheries management. The approach is designed to be transferable across the Atlantic, contributing to basin-wide comparisons of social-ecological systems and supporting more inclusive and adaptive management strategies A report was produced and a paper on the approach is currently in review.
• Modelling under TRIATLAS project Using Ecospace, the UCT Modelling Team contributing to TRIATLAS developed two spatial model prototypes for the Southern Benguela ecosystem at a quarter degree resolution for 1978-2015. These were used to determine whether currently available historic ESM trajectories combined with historic fishing efforts series for the Southern Benguela provide reasonable model representations of observed spatial-temporal changes in functional groups and fish catches, and whether these align with those based on a regional-scale oceanographic model. Of particular focus were spatial-temporal model representations of sardine, anchovy and Cape hakes, comprising the bulk of commercial catches off South Africa. A paper is being prepared for submission towards the end of 2025.

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

2018 - 2026

The Whales & Climate Program was conceived within Ma-Re to study the impact of climate change on humpback whales, and it was continued with MARIS as its objectives focused more on the oceanographic changes that may explain the appearance of whales supergroups in the Southern Benguela (Dey et al., 2022), the relationship between calving and sea-ice variability (Germishauzen et al., 2024), and how historical whaling records can contribute to improve climate models (Vichi et al., 2025).

See more information - https://whalesandclimate.org/ 

Eco-ACE: Ecosystem-based adaptive capacity through community engagement (2022 - 2024) was a transdisciplinary research project, aimed to facilitate and improve the adaptive capacity of vulnerable groups in coastal communities through a co-design and collaborative research approach using multiple methods. The project team included co-investigators from UCT, Nelson Mandela University and the University of the Western Cape.
The project used a community-based research approach to co-design and develop interventions and tools with stakeholders to foster improved adaptive capacity at the local level, while engaging decision-makers to identify interventions that promote ecosystem-based decision-making. Working across three case study sites in the Western Cape (St Helena Bay), Southern Cape (Melkhoutfontein), and Eastern Cape, the project used participatory research methods to capture local knowledge while increasing awareness around climate change and variability at the local level. Eco-ACE also used participatory modelling to integrate social and ecological knowledge into ecosystem models of the southern Benguela. The project also trained Honours, MSc and PhD students, fostered national and international collaborations, and contributed to strengthening adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities and promoted ecosystem-based management approaches in South Africa.

Building social innovation at MARIS is also realised in the social-ecological space. The Eco-ACE project stands out for its innovative use of approaches and methodologies that combine ecosystem modelling, participatory approaches, and arts-based techniques in ways rarely applied together in South African marine research. By adapting advanced ecosystem models such as Atlantis and Ecosim to explicitly include small-scale fisheries, the project expanded the scientific toolkit to reflect community realities that are often overlooked. This blending of quantitative modelling with qualitative, creative, and participatory approaches is innovative because it not only generates new scientific insights but also builds legitimacy and ownership among stakeholders, ensuring that adaptation strategies are both evidence-based and socially grounded. In doing so, Eco-ACE demonstrates how transdisciplinary, mixed-method approaches can transform research from being purely diagnostic into a catalyst for inclusive and actionable change.

The project was funded by the NRF Earth Systems Science Research Programme (ESSRP).

Lead Research Representatives: Dr Louise Gammage, Dr Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Prof Lynne Shannon

This project (2022 - 2024) aimed to (1) improve in situ measurement capability in the Antarctic marginal sea ice zone through the development of autonomous sensing platforms, (2) conduct a targeted observational experiment of large-scale Antarctic sea ice properties and variability specifically in Winter, and (3) use these observations to improve process-based models and the South African Earth System Model. 

To meet these aims, the team developed the Southern Hemisphere Antarctic Research Collective (SHARC) instruments (v3.0), ship-based imaging rigs using LiDAR and cameras, and polar power systems. These were deployed during the 2022 SCALE winter cruise, resulting in unique seasonal datasets on waves-in-ice and ice floe dynamics. The project also trained 4 MSc students and 1 PhD student, fostered national collaborations (NMU, WITS, CSIR SOCCO), and contributed data for climate model development. Its impact lies in addressing Southern Hemisphere data gaps and building South African expertise.

The project was funded by the NRF (Earth System Science Research Programme).

Lead Research Representatives: Robyn Verrinder, Prof Marcello Vichi

Mission Atlantic is an EU Horizon 2020 project that brought together over 30 partners from Europe, Africa, North and South America to assess the present and future status of Atlantic marine ecosystems under the impacts of climate change and exploitation. The project used Integrated Ecosystems Assessments (IEAs) to identify risks and pressures on Atlantic Ocean ecosystems and focused on seven regional Case Studies of the Atlantic Ocean. MARIS was instrumental in the Southern Benguela case study, by leading qualitative and quantitative risk assessments for South African marine ecosystems. We have also contributed to the development of ecosystem indicators and thresholds to be used in IEA, benthic and pelagic mapping of Atlantic ecosystems and societal engagement and communication.
MARIS applied qualitative risk assessments to contextualise South African marine social-ecological systems, identify the most at-risk sectors, pressures and ecological components and refine priorities for the next phases of the IEA. Similarly, our team conducted comprehensive long-term trend analyses of ecological components and assessed the status of ecosystem indicators. We also implemented a semi-quantitative risk assessment of the southern Benguela marine ecosystem using Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs), which investigate changes in risk levels from the fishing, shipping and oil and gas sectors, their associated pressures and impacts on ecological characteristics. The BBNs are being used to estimate cumulative impacts on South African marine ecosystems under different scenarios and to minimise the risk level from the key sectors while achieving socio-ecological objectives. Mission Atlantic supports the development of management strategies that will ensure sustainable use of marine resources and conservation of marine biodiversity for future generations.

Lead Research Representatives: Prof Lynne Shannon, 

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

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

• Led by Marcello Vichi and Sarah Fawcett