Nansen Tutu Center for Marine Environmental Research
The Kizomba PIRATA buoy, is the south-eastern extension of the original PIRATA array of moorings. It was deployed in 4 100 m deep at about 6° S, 8° E in May 2013. On top of typical PIRATA sensor, the mooring is fitted with a surface currentmeter and an incoming longwave radiation sensor to have an accurate description of the net heat budget in the location of the mooring, under the stratocumulus desk of the South Atlantic, a region notoriously known for bias in ocean atmosphere coupled model. Mooring data and satellite remote sensing estimates of salinity indicates numerous intrusions of low salinity water from the Congo River since 2013. The addition of a current meter is of great value in interpreting the results. Moreover CTD transect from the coast to the mooring location during replacement offer new insight on the hydrography of the region.
GINA (Gliders in the Agulhas Experiment)
GINA is a multi-institutional project funded by CSIR-NRE (SOCCO, Coastal Systems and Ecosystem Earth Observations groups), Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research, University of Gothenburg (Department of Marine Science), SAEON, ORI, DEA. Like drones, ocean gliders are autonomous robotic platforms which can be piloted from land. In June/July 2017, an SV3 Liquid Robotic Waveglider and a Seaglider will undertook a 2 month journey from Richards Bay to Port Elizabeth. On the 7 of September 2018, A nother glider was launched off Richards Bay. Throughout their journey the gliders will measure a range of oceanic parameters. The collected information will in turn be used by marine scientists to improve our knowledge of how the Agulhas Current influences the coastal regions along the South African eastern shores.
​
PREFACE "Enhancing prediction of Tropical Atlantic climate and its impacts" was a climate change project with 28 partners across 18 countries in Europe and Africa, and 3 associate partners directly involved in the sustainable management of the three Eastern boundary large marine ecosystems of the Tropical Atlantic. PREFACE is funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme Cooperation (ENV.2013.6.1-1: Climate-related ocean processes and combined impacts of multiple stressors on the marine environment), under Grant Agreement number 603521. It is ended in 2018
SCAMPI
This project aimed to carry out interdisciplinary research in the marine environment, addressing different scales of variability in the oceans off southern Africa and provided knowledge that allowed impacts of future climate change to be anticipated and adaptation strategies developed. The project spanned the "Environment" and "Climate System" thematic areas of the SANCOOP call. It built on the already-established, strong relationships between the University of Cape Town's Marine Research Institute (including the Nansen-Tutu Centre), the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Bergen, and the University of Bergen and the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis at the University of Oslo.
