Cape Town – Researchers aboard the SA
Agulhas II have reached the Marginal Ice
Zone and started coring into the
floating ice.
This is according to Stellenbosch University, which tweeted the news,
saying the process of coring was not only difficult, but outright dangerous.
Scientists from Maties
Department of Earth Sciences and UCT have embarked on various research exhibitions aboard the research vessel, bound for the Antarctica’s winter sea ice.
One of the many novel research projects is a collaboration between engineers from UCT and environmental geochemists from Maties.
In this project, engineering
principles will be used to understand the behaviour of nutrients in ice cores and the future impacts of climate change on the ocean.
Professor Alakendra Roychoudhury, an environmental geochemist in the Maties Department of Earth Sciences, said for the past few days the two research teams had been sampling in the Marginal Ice Zone in the Southern Ocean at temperatures often well below freezing point.
“Marginal ice forms around the Antarctic each winter and thaws in spring and summer.
“This freezing-thawing process changes the distribution of
micronutrients, such as iron, zinc and other bioactive metals present in the ocean waters.
“We want to understand this change - how and where does it happen and where in the ice the micro nutrients end up.
“This will give us important
information about what may happen to the chemistry of the oceans under warmer conditions in a future
climate, when more ice than usual starts
melting.”
The available nutrients in ocean waters affect phytoplankton growth, which has consequences for not only the global carbon budget, but eventual sustenance of krill and higher trophic levels in the region.
Roychoudhury said the collaboration with UCT would provide researchers with a better understanding of fluid flow within the ice structures, a key component for understanding nutrient transport.
To support the trace metal work of the Maties environmental geochemistry research group, also called TracEx, they have access to a mobile ultra-clean laboratory on board the ship, valued at approximately R2million.
UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said its 25 researchers were among 70 participants.
“The project will provide the first coverage of an entire seasonal cycle of sea ice in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean.”