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Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) (382)

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.15712023
Simulated advection patterns of Engraulis encrasicolus and Sardinops sagax larvae across South Africa's inshore Marine Protected Areas

Larval anchovy and sardine dispersal patterns in South Africa's exclusive economic zone (2010 - 2014) by Rasehlomi et al. (2025), published in Frontiers in Marine Science, investigates the dispersal of larval anchovy and sardine (https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1508479). We simulated larval dispersal patterns using a simplified model within the Java-based ICHTHYOP particle tracking tool. This model compared outputs from the 3km grid resolution CROCO model and the 8km-resolution Global Ocean Reanalyses (GLORYS). Virtual particles were released from the surface of 14 inshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), from iSimangaliso MPA (on the east coast) including the Agulhas Bank (on the south) to Childs Bank MPA (on the west coast). Releases occurred on October 1st for five consecutive years, starting in 2010. These particles drifted for 30 days, with their positions recorded every 30 minutes. Particles that exited the model's boundaries or became stranded on beaches were excluded from...

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.12652023
Cape Canyon Suspended Particulate Matter CTD water sample

The Cape Canyon, situated on the western continental shelf of South Africa, stands as the country's largest bathymetric feature. Despite its prominence, understanding of the food web dynamics within the system and the significance of the benthic community for higher trophic levels remains incomplete. In response to this knowledge gap, the DFFE: Oceans and Coasts launched a multidisciplinary expedition aboard the RV Algoa. The expedition aimed to characterise the physical environment and investigate food web connections in the vicinity of the Cape Canyon by analysing isotopic signatures in suspended particulate matter (SPM) relative to those found in benthic tissue samples. Prior to dredge operations, conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) water samples were collected at each dredge station. However, due to the inherent challenges associated with sampling in canyon systems, not all dredge operations were successful in obtaining samples, resulting in an unbalanced design where...

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.05322023
Benthic invertebrate presence data, in and around the Cape Canyon (Southern Benguela Upwelling region)

Canyon research is still an emergent field in South Africa and the true potential of canyons as biodiversity hotspots has seldom been studied in an integrated context. In response to this, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment: Oceans and Coasts collected benthic data to better understand benthic species profiles within and around the Cape Canyon. This equated to 39 stations (whereby 13 were canyon and 26 non-canyon) and yielded 180 species.

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.26052100
Wirewalker wave-powered profilers from three nearshore moorings in St Helena Bay, South Africa, Feb-Apr 2011

Concurrent nearshore measurements of temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll fluorescence from three moorings offshore of Elands Bay, within St Helena Bay, Southern Benguela, in water depths of ~22 m (mooring 3), ~50 m (mooring 2) and ~62 m (mooring 1). The data were originally presented in "Lucas, A. J., Pitcher, G. C., Probyn, T. A., & Kudela, R. M. (2014, March). The influence of diurnal winds on phytoplankton dynamics in a coastal upwelling system off south -western Africa. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography,101,50–62. doi: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.01.016", and were further investigated in "Fearon, G., Herbette, S., Veitch, J., Cambon, G., Lucas, A. J., Lemarié, F., & Vichi, M. (2020). Enhanced vertical mixing in coastal upwelling systems driven by diurnal‐inertial resonance: Numerical experiments. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 125, e2020JC016208. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016208".

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.26052101
Bottom-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) from three nearshore moorings in St Helena Bay, South Africa, Feb-Apr 2011

Concurrent nearshore measurements of current velocity from three moorings offshore of Elands Bay, within St Helena Bay, Southern Benguela, in water depths of ~22 m (mooring 3), ~50 m (mooring 2) and ~62 m (mooring 1). The data were originally presented in "Lucas, A. J., Pitcher, G. C., Probyn, T. A., & Kudela, R. M. (2014, March). The influence of diurnal winds on phytoplankton dynamics in a coastal upwelling system off south-western Africa. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography,101,50–62. doi: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.01.016", and were further investigated in "Fearon, G., Herbette, S., Veitch, J., Cambon, G., Lucas, A. J., Lemarié, F., & Vichi, M. (2020). Enhanced vertical mixing in coastal upwelling systems driven by diurnal‐inertial resonance: Numerical experiments. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 125, e2020JC016208. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016208".

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.10000014
Southern Benguela shelf total cumulative upwelling index, 1997 to 2018

Seasonal mean total cumulative upwelling in the Southern Benguela (29-34.3°S;12-18.5°E) shelf region during austral summer, autumn, winter, and spring.

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.10000013
Northern Benguela shelf total cumulative upwelling index, 1997 to 2018

Seasonal mean total cumulative upwelling in the Northern Benguela (15-29°S;8-16.8°E) shelf region during austral summer, autumn, winter, and spring.

Geographic extent

Temporal extent