Please note that this is a staging site.
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Raw SAWS Weather data from ACEP Deep Secrets: The Outer Shelf and Slope Ecosystems of the Eastern Cape on the Algoa Voyage 230, September 2016

This is raw SAWS weather data collected on the ACEP Deep Secrets Cruise which set out to fill in gaps and shed light on the priority areas and research questions identified during the recent Marine Protected Area and Marine Spatial Planning Initiatives of Operation Phakisa’s Marine Protection and Governance Lab. Using underwater cameras (SkiMonkey and Drop camera), grabs, dredges and a CTD the study aimed to improve our knowledge on marine offshore habitats, as well as to build understanding of the effects of the expanding fishing and petroleum industries on marine offshore communities.

(No DOI)
Raw SDS data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 205, February 2014

This is raw Scientific Data System (SDS) data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela on the Algoa Voyage 205, 03 to 22 February, 2014. The Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional platform to undertake relevant science in the Southern Benguela; also functioning as a platform for collaboration and learning. All projects aim to develop an ecosystem indicator that can be used to effectively monitor and understand the Southern Benguela i.e physical, chemical, planktonic, microbial, seabird and benthic ecosystem indicators, used for ecosystem-based management.

(No DOI)
Raw SDS data for the South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Basin-wide Array (SAMBA) Monitoring Line in the South-East Atlantic Ocean on Algoa Voyage 210, September 2014

This is Scientific Data System (SDS) data for the South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Basin-wide Array (SAMBA) Monitoring Line in the South-East Atlantic Ocean on Algoa Voyage 210,15 to 29 September, 2014. This cruise had a primary scientific objective of extending the SAMBA mooring line, the offshore section of the Cape Point long-term monitoring line, and deploying the four offshore tall moorings.

(No DOI)
Raw CTD data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 202, September 2013

This is raw Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela on the Algoa Voyage 202, 9 to 19 September, 2013. This was the pilot cruise for the IEP:SB for site determination and gear testing.The Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional platform to undertake relevant science in the Southern Benguela; also functioning as a platform for collaboration and learning. All projects aim to develop an ecosystem indicator that can be used to effectively monitor and understand the Southern Benguela i.e physical, chemical, planktonic, microbial, seabird and benthic ecosystem indicators, used for ecosystem-based management.

(No DOI)
Raw CTD data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 218, September 2015

This is raw Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data from the St Helena Bay Monitoring Line September 2015 cruise (now under the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela). The St Helena Bay Monitoring Line was initiated as a BENEFIT-driven project on "shipboard monitoring" which linked with similar lines run in Namibia and Angola. The aims are to obtain seasonal and interannual information on the hydrology and productivity of the area. Data on harmful algal blooms, low oxygen water and intrusions of Agulhas Bank water along the west coast will also be collected. A long-term, multi-decadel time-series (from 1951 onward) of information already exists for this important region and has continued in the form of the IEP:SB to detect long-term changes in the hydrology and the plankton, which are important for the detection of regime shifts.

(No DOI)
Raw CTD data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme cruise: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 232, November 2016

This is raw Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme (IEP) cruise: Southern Benguela on the Algoa V232, 15 - 26 November, 2016. The Integrated Ecosystem Programme is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional platform to undertake relevant science in the Southern Benguela; also functioning as a platform for collaboration and learning. All projects aim to develop an ecosystem indicator that can be used to effectively monitor and understand the Southern Benguela i.e physical, chemical, planktonic, microbial, seabird and benthic ecosystem indicators, used for ecosystem-based management.

(No DOI)
Raw SDS data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme cruise: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 232, November 2016

This is raw Scientific Data System (SDS) data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme (IEP) cruise: Southern Benguela on the Algoa V232, 15 - 26 November, 2016. The Integrated Ecosystem Programme is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional platform to undertake relevant science in the Southern Benguela; also functioning as a platform for collaboration and learning. All projects aim to develop an ecosystem indicator that can be used to effectively monitor and understand the Southern Benguela i.e physical, chemical, planktonic, microbial, seabird and benthic ecosystem indicators, used for ecosystem-based management.

(No DOI)
Raw SADCP data from SANAE on SA Agulhas II Voyage 014, December 2014

The is raw Shipboard Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (SADCP) data from the SANAE on SA Agulhas II Voyage 014, 14 December 2014 and 19 February 2015 with full scientific complement.The South African National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE) is an annual cruise undertaken by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to change the overwintering teams in Antarctica and to replenish the supplies at the SANAE IV Research base. This voyage was to deliver the SANAE 54 team to the island and return with the SANAE 53 team.

(No DOI)
Raw CTD data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 209, August 2014

This is raw Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela on the Algoa Voyage 209, 5 to 15 August, 2014. The Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional platform to undertake relevant science in the Southern Benguela; also functioning as a platform for collaboration and learning. All projects aim to develop an ecosystem indicator that can be used to effectively monitor and understand the Southern Benguela i.e physical, chemical, planktonic, microbial, seabird and benthic ecosystem indicators, used for ecosystem-based management. IEP:SB focuses on the biologically productive, cold waters of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem, which are inherently variable on short time-scales and responsive to changing weather patterms. The research aims to provide relevant, reliable and improved assessment of the ecosystem, in support of its effective management,...

(No DOI)
Raw CTD data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 205, February 2014

This is raw Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela on the Algoa Voyage 205, 03 to 22 February, 2014. The Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional platform to undertake relevant science in the Southern Benguela; also functioning as a platform for collaboration and learning. All projects aim to develop an ecosystem indicator that can be used to effectively monitor and understand the Southern Benguela i.e physical, chemical, planktonic, microbial, seabird and benthic ecosystem indicators, used for ecosystem-based management.

(No DOI)
SDS data from the South Coast Moorings and Monitoring Lines Cruise on the Algoa Voyage 213, December 2014

This is Scientific Data System (SDS) data from the South Coast Moorings and Monitoring Lines Cruise on Algoa Voyage 213 on 1 to 19 December, 2014. Between 1988 and 2011, environmental and plankton sampling was conducted every summer along the South Coast during the annual pelagic spawner biomass surveys. Data collected during these cruises has provided valuable insight into environmental change in this region. There has been significant decline in copepod biomass on both the western and central Agulhas Bank over the past two decades, as well as a decline in the proportion of the large dominant species Calanus agulhensis, resulting in a shift towards a smaller copepod-dominated community. These changes are thought to have been largely driven by predation by planktivorous fish, which have increased in biomass since the mid-1990s, but increasing sea temperatures have also played a role. It is vital that we continue to monitor the environment and plankton community in key areas off the...

(No DOI)
Raw SDS data from the Moorings and Monitoring Lines Cruise: Cape Point and Port St Johns on the Algoa Voyage 204, November 2013

This is raw Scientific Data System (SDS) data from the Moorings and Monitoring Lines Cruise: Cape Point and Port St Johns on the Algoa Voyage 204, 25 November to 6 December, 2013. The South Coast Mooring Cruise had two scientific objectives: (1) Service, maintain and extend the in situ operational oceanography network currently deployed around South Africa and (2) to investigate the dynamics of the Port St Johns eddy and biological implications.

(No DOI)
Raw SDS data from the South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Basin-wide Array (SAMBA) Monitoring Line in the South-East Atlantic Ocean on Algoa Voyage 221, November 2015

This is Scientific Data System (SDS) data from the South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Basin-wide Array (SAMBA) Monitoring Line in the South-East Atlantic Ocean on Algoa Voyage 221, 30 November to 14 December, 2015. SAMBA forms part of the South African component of the International South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation project (SAMOC-SA), which aims to characterise the time-mean and time-varying components of the SAMOC in the South Atlantic Ocean and monitor the variability of the main Southern Ocean frontal systems associated with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), south of Africa.

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SDS data from the West Coast Cetacean Distribution and Abundance Survey on the Algoa Voyage 219, October 2015

This is Scientific Data System (SDS) data from the West Coast Cetacean Distribution and Abundance Survey on the Algoa Voyage 219, 28 October to 06 November 2015. The cruise operated on the shelf and slope regions off the west coast of South Africa, between Dassen Island and Groenriviermond.This cruise was undertaken for data collection as part of a collaborative project led by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) in collaboration with the Whale Unit, Mammal Research Institute of the University of Pretoria, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA), Aqualie Institute (Brazil) and Oregon State University (USA). The greater programme is titled "The ecology of Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae in South Africa" and has two components, the east coast and west coast components. This cruise focused on the west coast humpback whales.

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Raw SDS data from the Transkei Shelf Oceanography Cruise on the Algoa 241, July 2017

This is raw Scientific Data System (SDS) data from the Transkei Shelf Oceanography Cruise on the Algoa 241, 12 July to 11 August, 2017. The area covered includes the Transkei shelf and continental slope (20m to 1000m), of the Eastern Cape, between Cape St Francis and Port Shepstone in the South-West Indian Ocean.Our knowledge of the distribution of offshore benthic biodiversity on the Transkei shelf is very limited. The region between Algoa Bay and Port Edward is not only important for understanding the functioning of existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) such as Pondoland, Dwesa-Cwebe, and the Amathole, but is of particular relevance to the new Operation Phakisa proposed MPA network that will potentially include additional MPAs such as the Protea Banks, Amathole Expansion, and the proposed Addo MPA. In addition, further knowledge is needed to support decision-making about the offshore extent of the Dwesa-Cwebe MPA. The oceanography in the form of water column and energy...

(No DOI)
Raw SDS data from the Mooring Cruise on the Algoa Voyage 199, June 2013

This is Scientific Data System (SDS) data from the Mooring Cruise on the Algoa Voyage 199 from 29 June - 3 July, 2013. The area covered includes Slangkop, off of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa to Port Edward, south of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

(No DOI)
Raw CTD data from Port St Johns Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) and Bathymetry Survey on Algoa Voyage 198, May 2013

Raw Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data from Port St Johns Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) and Bathymetry Survey on Algoa Voyage 198, 8 May - 13 May, 2013. This cruise has two scientific objectives: (1) to investigate the dynamics of the Port St. Johns eddy and biological implications and (2) to investigate the existence of mesoscale eddies in the Agulhas Current. In the case of the former, Oceans & Coasts was asked to provide input to the recent spate of shark attacks off Port St. Johns. Very little is known about the oceanography except that Roberts et al (2010) discovered during a cruise a lee-trapped cyclonic eddy off Port St. Johns that caused substantial slope upwelling. The cold upwelled water is nutrient-rich and appears to provide a biological pump to the local ecosystem. This cruise will deploy an ADCP in a depth of approximately 80 m to determine the frequency of appearance of this eddy coupled with Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) lines to measure...

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South African Weather Service (SAWS) data from the West Coast Cetacean Distribution and Abundance Survey on the Algoa Voyage 219, October 2015

This is South African Weather Service (SAWS) data from the West Coast Cetacean Distribution and Abundance Survey on the Algoa Voyage 219, 28 October to 06 November 2015. The cruise operated on the shelf and slope regions off the west coast of South Africa, between Dassen Island and Groenriviermond.This cruise was undertaken for data collection as part of a collaborative project led by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) in collaboration with the Whale Unit, Mammal Research Institute of the University of Pretoria, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA), Aqualie Institute (Brazil) and Oregon State University (USA). The greater programme is titled "The ecology of Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae in South Africa" and has two components, the east coast and west coast components. This cruise focused on the west coast humpback whales.

(No DOI)
Raw SDS data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on Algoa Voyage 229, August 2016

Raw Scientific Data System (SDS) data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela on Algoa Voyage 229, 10 - 19 August 2016. The Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional platform to undertake relevant science in the Southern Benguela; also functioning as a platform for collaboration and learning. All projects aim to develop an ecosystem indicator that can be used to effectively monitor and understand the Southern Benguela i.e physical, chemical, planktonic, microbial, seabird and benthic ecosystem indicators, used for ecosystem-based management.

(No DOI)
SDS data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 202, September 2013

This is raw underway Scientific Data System (SDS) data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela on the Algoa Voyage 202, 9 to 19 September, 2013. This was the pilot cruise for the IEP:SB for site determination and gear testing.The Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional platform to undertake relevant science in the Southern Benguela; also functioning as a platform for collaboration and learning. All projects aim to develop an ecosystem indicator that can be used to effectively monitor and understand the Southern Benguela i.e physical, chemical, planktonic, microbial, seabird and benthic ecosystem indicators, used for ecosystem-based management.

(No DOI)
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Raw CTD data from the West Coast Cetacean Distribution and Abundance Survey on the Algoa Voyage 211, October 2014

This is raw Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data collected on the West Coast Cetacean Distribution and Abundance Survey on the Algoa Voyage 211, 28 October to 10 November 2014. The cruise operated on the shelf and slope regions off the West Coast of South Africa, between Dassen Island and Groenriviermond. The major objective of this cruise was to survey the abundance and distribution of cetaceans, in particular humpback whales, within the study area on the west coast. This objective, along with the research aims and proposed methodologies, are consistent with internationally accepted protocols. This work provided hands-on experience with logistical and technical cetacean specific problems associated with dedicated cetacean cruises. This work was a collaboration with the Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

(No DOI)
Raw CTD data for the South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Basin-wide Array (SAMBA) Monitoring Line in the South-East Atlantic Ocean on Algoa Voyage 210, September 2014

This is raw Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data for the South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Basin-wide Array (SAMBA) Monitoring Line in the South-East Atlantic Ocean on Algoa Voyage 210,15 to 29 September, 2014. This cruise had a primary scientific objective of extending the SAMBA mooring line, the offshore section of the Cape Point long-term monitoring line, and deploying the four offshore tall moorings.

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.13912023
Long-term monitoring of inshore temperatures in Elands Bay to support physiological research

To better understand the physiological effects of climate change and ocean acidification on marine organisms, information on the environmental conditions experienced in their natural habitats is required. Data from long-term monitoring studies capture in situ variability of environmental parameters that are used to relate experimental findings with field conditions. Elands Bay on the west coast of South Africa is a key location for such research and monitoring. It is a popular location for West Coast rock lobster (Jasus lalandii) fishing and therefore an important sentinel site for a commercial fishery species and the benthic communities upon which it depends. Low pH conditions exist along the west coast due to effects of upwelling, while cold-bottom waters in Elands Bay often result in low oxygen events responsible for mass walkouts of rock lobster. Additional exposure to extreme stressors associated with climate change can exacerbate impacts on their physiological processes. For...

DOI: 10.15493/dea.mims.26052350
Long-term monitoring of seawater temperature in the microhabitats of intertidal marine invertebrates in Sea Point, South Africa

To better understand the physiological effects of marine invertebrates to changing environmental conditions, long-term monitoring which captures the natural variability of environmental parameters is required. In this way, experimental findings can be related back to field conditions, and better predictions can be made as to how marine invertebrates, particularly in the harsh intertidal, will fair with rising temperature. In May 2020, Cape Sea Urchins, Parechinus angulosus, were collected from intertidal rock pools at Sea Point, which is situated along the southwest coast of South Africa. After chronic incubation in low pH conditions at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Sea Point Research Aquarium, their response to thermal stress was investigated in recent experimental trials. To calculate the thermal window for these marine invertebrates, both habitat temperatures, as well as their threshold temperatures are required. The latter was obtained by...

DOI: 10.15493/dea.mims.26052103
Short-term observations of currents and sub-surface temperatures on the continental shelf and slope off Port Edward, South Africa

Between 2005 and 2015, multiple short-term studies were conducted to determine the characteristics of moorings deployed in a region heavily influenced by the strong Agulhas Current, and to examine circulation patterns across the continental shelf and slope off Port Edward, along the east coast of South Africa.

Geographic extent

Temporal extent