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SU team set sail to Antartica
Author: Corporate Communication/ Korporatiewe Kommunikasie
Published: 29/06/2017

​The excitement was palpable when a research team of Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Science, set sail on a return voyage to Antarctica from the Port of Cape Town on board the SA Agulhas II earlier this week. The SA Agulhas Winter Cruise 2017 is expected to be about two weeks.

This vessel is South Africa's prestigious research ship of the Department of Environmental Affairs and is used for polar research. The SU team joined a team of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's (CSIR) for this research expedition. They will study water samples and atmospheric dust from the Southern Ocean. This will improve their understanding of the ocean's capability to cushion human-induced climate change.

“Ocean waters have the capacity to absorb vast amounts of CO2. Phytoplankton, in oceans, has the ability to remove this dissolved CO2 thereby potentially lowering atmospheric CO2 concentrations," said Ian Weir, MSc student from the University's Department of Earth Sciences.

Ian is on board the ship with fellow students from the Department Earth Sciences:- Andile Mkandla, Kaukurauee Izzy Kangueehi, Ryan Cloete, Jean Loock, and Johan Viljoen. Other team members are Jodi Pieterse (student at the Faculty of Agrisciences, James Lloyd (researcher at the Faculty of Agrisciences), Bjorn von der Heyden and Susanne Fietz (lecturers at the Department Earth Sciences)

For updates on this journey, follow the team's blog at https://southernoceanfe.wordpress.com/