by Ria Olivier | May 31, 2022 | Announcement, Gough Island, Marion Island, News, Prince Edward Island, SANAP, Science, Southern Ocean, sub-Antarctic, Tristan da Cunha
Congratulations to Prof Peter Ryan, awarded with the BirdLife South Africa Gill Memorial Medal, for an outstanding lifetime contribution to ornithology in southern Africa.
Prof Ryan, an A-rated Ornithologist and Director of the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, has been part of the South African National Antarctic Programme for more than two decades, doing research on seabirds breeding on Marion Island and the Tristan archipelago, which includes Gough Island. Prof Ryan’s latest research within SANAP is focused on “Avian scavengers as indicators of recovery of an island biota”, co-led with Dr Maëlle Connan (Research Fellow in the Marine Apex Predator Research Unit, Nelson Mandela University). Click here to read more about this project.
He is the author and co-author of a number of books on seabirds and the sub-Antarctic islands. Here is his latest publication: Guide to Seabirds of Southern Africa.
The Citation for Prof Ryan’s award – Click here.
In 2012, John Cooper, who was extensively involved in long-term seabird monitoring studies on Gough and Marion islands since the 1980s, received this award for his outstanding contribution to ornithology in southern Africa.
Featured Image: Prof Peter Ryan at the 5th SANAP Symposium (2018) in Hermanus, where he presented his work on “Plastics in Antarctica – preliminary findings from the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE).
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 31 May 2022
by Ria Olivier | May 18, 2022 | Announcement, Discover, Gateway cities, International Days, Prince Edward Island, Prince Edward Islands, Research, SA Agulhas II, SANAE, SANAP, Science, Southern Ocean, Stations, sub-Antarctic
Free entrance to Iziko Museums of South Africa today, 18 May 2022.
Visit the Sentinels of the South Exhibition at Iziko Museum of South Africa, Cape Town.
This exhibition will give you insight into the history, discoveries, and current role of South Africa’s Antarctic and Southern Ocean exploration. Read more here.
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 18 May 2022
by Ria Olivier | May 11, 2022 | Announcement, Antarctica, Engineering, Environment, News, Research, SA Agulhas II, SANAP, Southern Ocean
Her lecture title is: What can we learn from the way a ship shudders on an icy wreck hunt.
For more info and a link to the LIVE event, click
here.
S.A. Agulhas II Image Credit: Ken Findlay.
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 11 May 2022
by Ria Olivier | May 10, 2022 | Announcement, Gough Island, Newsletters>Gough Island Newsletters, Overwintering Team, SANAP, Stations
The current overwintering team on Gough Island, Gough 67, compiled their second newsletter.
What will you find in this issue:
Click here to view or download this latest issue of The Bunting (Gough Island Newsletter).
Do you want to have a look at some other newsletters from previous teams? Find it all here.
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 10 May 2022
by Ria Olivier | Apr 29, 2022 | Announcement, Antarctica, News, Newsletters>SANAE Newsletters, Overwintering Team, SANAE, Team member
The second SANAE61 newsletter is out!
In this edition:
- Get a quick catch-up from The Endurance (S61) editor, Maanda Mulaudzi
- Get to know the team’s Senior Meteorological Technician, Eric Randall
- Find out more about his work, how the Antarctic journey has been so far, and much more!
- This team cooks together, they have dinner together, they also have fun together. For fun, they have in house-tournaments such as the Pool Table Championship and in every newsletter, the current “King of the pool table” will be announced! See below the current ‘king’.
Click here to view or download this issue!!
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 29 April 2022
by Ria Olivier | Mar 9, 2022 | Announcement, Antarctica, Current Event, News, Research, SA Agulhas II
Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, The Endurance was crushed and sank to the ocean floor, in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica (1915). Read more here.
The Endurance was found at a depth of 3008 meters in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Image Credit: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/National Geographic
The South African (Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment) owned research and supply vessel, the S.A. Agulhas II (managed and operated by African Marine Solutions), is currently in the Weddell Sea, chartered by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust to locate the sunken ship of Shackleton. The Endurance 22 Expedition made an official press release earlier today, announcing that The Endurance has been found and successfully surveyed and filmed for research purposes. Read the press release on Endurance 22 here.
Congratulations to all the different research teams on board and to the captain of the vessel, Captain Knowledge Bengu, and his crew that ensured the safety of all passengers.
WATCH the footage here!
After the unsuccessful Weddell Sea Expedition in 2019, these are the proud individuals (including Captain Knowledge Bengu, Ice Pilot Captain Freddie Ligthelm and many S.A. Agulhas II crew members) that were able to join this second and very successful hunt for Shackleton’s Endurance.
L-R: James-John Matthee, John Shears, Annie Bekker, Pierre Le Gall, Mensun Bound, Chad Bonin. Image Credit: Chad Bonin.
Before heading to Cape Town, with only 3 days left of the original charter time, the S.A. Agulhas II is now on her way to South Georgia, the burial place of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton.
LIVE Interview from the S.A. Agulhas II – Captain Knowledge Bengu
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 09 March 2022
