The South African Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research Plan. 2014-2024.

Abstract

he South African Government has indicated its commitment to continued research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean through major financial investments in new state-of-the-art platforms including new bases on Marion Island and in Antarctica, and an advanced research and supply vessel, the SA Agulhas II. Various academic instruments have facilitated outstanding academic research, often interdisciplinary, focused on Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. These endeavours have helped to keep South African scientific research at the forefront of international research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Most importantly, the research is a platform for the development of vital high-quality human capital. This plan integrates of all these investments to capitalize on the emerging global prominence of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, and on South Africa’s comparative geographic advantage, which extends into the historic and current use of Cape Town as a home port for foreign research endeavours. The current research plan remains within the scope of the Antarctic Research Strategy for South Africa (ARESSA) vision, and is focused on an integrative systems approach to understanding the evolution of the Earth systems and ecosystems in the 21st Century.