Carbon

A South African commitment to having a much greater role in both regional and global science has been articulated by the Global Change Grand Challenge science plan prepared by the science community at the request of DST. Key to gaining new knowledge depends on enhancing our observational technological skills, including numerical modelling. The commitment by DST, Treasury and DEA: SANAP to invest in advanced cluster computing facilities (CHPC and SANReN) and a new research vessel (SA Agulhas II) were catalytic in giving significant encouragement to the SA science community to invest research energy in the Southern Ocean domain. These together with the Global Change Grand Challenge were the context that let CSIR-NRE to place the Southern Ocean into its strategic research plans.

A number of new research facilities are already operational and each has been located and developed at institutions that are identifiably strong in the field so that this investment is strongly leveraged by a sustained research interest and HCD plans.

  1. SO Observational Engineering R&D facility: Robotics and Ocean profiling (CSIR-STS-Universities)
  2. Iron (Fe) clean analytical experimental facility (Stellenbosch University)
  3. High precision CO2 and pCO2 Facility (CSIR)
  4. Bio-optics Research Facility (CSIR)
  5. High precision Nutrient and Oxygen biogeochemistry (UCT)
  6. Ocean productivity and biogeochemistry facility (UCT)

All these facilities are set up to interface with the new polar research ship and the Centre for High Performance computing to grow a 21st century Ocean research capability in South Africa.

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A South African commitment to having a much greater role in both regional and global science has been articulated by the Global Change Grand Challenge science plan prepared by the science community at the request of DST. Key to gaining new knowledge depends on enhancing our observational technological skills, including numerical modelling. The commitment by DST, Treasury and DEA: SANAP to invest in advanced cluster computing facilities (CHPC and SANReN) and a new research vessel (SA Agulhas II) were catalytic in giving significant encouragement to the SA science community to invest research energy in the Southern Ocean domain. These together with the Global Change Grand Challenge were the context that let CSIR-NRE to place the Southern Ocean into its strategic research plans.

A number of new research facilities are already operational and each has been located and developed at institutions that are identifiably strong in the field so that this investment is strongly leveraged by a sustained research interest and HCD plans.

  1. SO Observational Engineering R&D facility: Robotics and Ocean profiling (CSIR-STS-Universities)
  2. Iron (Fe) clean analytical experimental facility (Stellenbosch University)
  3. High precision CO2 and pCO2 Facility (CSIR)
  4. Bio-optics Research Facility (CSIR)
  5. High precision Nutrient and Oxygen biogeochemistry (UCT)
  6. Ocean productivity and biogeochemistry facility (UCT)

All these facilities are set up to interface with the new polar research ship and the Centre for High Performance computing to grow a 21st century Ocean research capability in South Africa.