SkiMonkey mounted MicroCAT CTD data from around Prince Edward Island on SA Agulhas II Voyage 036, April 2019

The 2019 Marion Relief Voyage offered the 7th opportunity to conduct multi-disciplinary, shipbased marine research focusing on links and interactions between air and sea, ocean physics, chemistry, biogeochemistry and biology, including microbial, planktic and benthic communities on board South Africa’s polar research and supply vessel MV SA Agulhas II en route to, and around, the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward archipelago. The overall aim was to continue contributing to an oceanographic observation and monitoring system directed by South African research institutions in support of South Africa’s needs – and where possible, in support of global requirements of inter alia the Global Oceans Observing System (GOOS), the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), and the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP). With the declaration on 9 April 2013 of the Prince Edward Islands (PEIs) as South Africa’s first offshore Marine Protected Area (MPA), the outcomes of this cruise will further contribute toward an integrated view and a better understanding of the functioning of the combined island/marine PEI ecosystem.
This accession contains raw and processed SkiMonkey mounted SBE-37 MicroCAT CTD data collected from part of the Marion Island Relief Voyage on the SA Agulhas II Voyage 036, which was at sea between 11 April and 16 May 2019. At each station the SkiMonkey III towed camera system, with the MicroCAT CTD attached, was deployed off the stern of the ship, from the plankton towing winch at a speed of 1 m/s until contact with the seafloor was made. Once on the seafloor, the system was towed behind the vessel at a speed of 1 knot for approximately 20 minutes. Following this, the system was retrieved and the data were downloaded and backed-up appropriately. Note that latitude and longitude information were only recorded at two points per station, when the system touched down on the seafloor and when it was retrieved from the seafloor (i.e. Start_Lat_DD, Start_Lon_DD, End_Lat_DD, End_Lon_DD). The download is divided into station level folders, within which the user can find ReadME documents describing the variables recorded in the data, a _StationLevelData sheet describing the instrument deployment, a _RawData file with data extracted as is from the instrument, and a _CleanData file with processed data as described in the metadata lineage statement.