Marion Island Relief on the 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.