DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.32062025
Processed underway Thermosalinograph (TSG) observations from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP: SB) cruise on the Algoa Voyage 228, May 2016

Here we present the 6-second resolution processed TSG data collected, between 19 May 2016 and 26 May 2016, during Voyage 228 on the Algoa. A SeaBird SBE45 Thermosalinograph (TSG) is used to opportunistically collect underway near-surface temperature and conductivity measurements during research and monitoring cruises. Water is continuously pumped to the TSG from an intake located in the hull of the vessel, and the observations are continuously interfaced with navigational information. A temperature sensor close to the intake provides temperature measurements of the incoming water (T1). The temperature of the water inside the conductivity cell (T2) is used to accurately compute salinity (S) from the conductivity measurements (C).

(No DOI)
Raw TSG data from Southern Ocean Seasonal Cycle Experiment (SOSCEx) IV on the SA Agulhas II, Voyage 020, July 2016

The SA Agulhas II operated from Cape Town along the Goodhope Line, completing underway biogeochemical and physical oceanography observations along the transect, as part of the Winter 2016 Southern Ocean Seasonal Cycle Experiment (SOSCEx) IV and Marginal Ice Zone Dynamics. The cruise included deployment of expendable bathythermographs underway, deployment of four autonomous robotics instruments at two stations (2 wavegliders and 2 buoyancy gliders, per station), and the deployment of two Argo floats. One CTD for instrument calibration and verification was deployed at each glider station. The transect commenced to the Marginal Ice Zone for sample collection of sea ice and biological community composition in this region. This collection includes raw Thermosalinograph (TSG) data from S.A Agulhas II, Voyage 020A (AGU020A) that took place between 15 July 2016 and 29 July 2016.

(No DOI)
Raw SADCP data from Southern Ocean Seasonal Cycle Experiment (SOSCEx) IV on the SA Agulhas II, Voyage 020, July 2016

The SA Agulhas II operated from Cape Town along the Goodhope Line, completing underway biogeochemical and physical oceanography observations along the transect, as part of the Winter 2016 Southern Ocean Seasonal Cycle Experiment (SOSCEx) IV and Marginal Ice Zone Dynamics. The cruise included deployment of expendable bathythermographs underway, deployment of four autonomous robotics instruments at two stations (2 wavegliders and 2 buoyancy gliders, per station), and the deployment of two Argo floats. One CTD for instrument calibration and verification was deployed at each glider station. The transect commenced to the Marginal Ice Zone for sample collection of sea ice and biological community composition in this region. This collection includes raw Shipboard Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (SADCP) data from S.A Agulhas II, Voyage 020A (AGU020A) that took place between 15 July 2016 and 29 July 2016.

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.30122022
Spanish-Namibian Environmental Cruise (SNEC) on the Africana Voyage 035, September 1985

The objective of this cruise was to investigate the hydrology and plankton of the coastal waters off Nambia between 20 S and 26 S.

(No DOI)
Processed Chl-a data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 235, February 2017

This is processed Chl-a data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) cruise which was conducted on the Algoa Voyage 235 from 16 February 2017 to 28 February, 2017. IEP:SB focuses on the biologically productive, cold waters of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem, which are inherently variable on short time-scales and responsive to changing weather patterms. The research aims to provide relevant, reliable and improved assessment of the ecosystem, in support of its effective management, preservation and conservation, so that South Africans can benefit from a healthy and well-functioning ocean environment. The overarching objective is to enhance understanding in process studies by assessing the importance, timing and magnitude of mechanisms and processes that influence the Southern Benguela ecosystem structure and functioning, including the climate variability.

DOI: 10.15493/dea.mims.25010007
Processed underway Thermosalinograph (TSG) observations from the SA Agulhas II Voyage 035, November 2018

A SeaBird SBE45 Thermosalinograph (TSG) is used to opportunistically collect underway near-surface temperature and conductivity measurements during research and monitoring cruises. Water is continuously pumped to the TSG from an intake located in the hull of the vessel, and the observations are continuously interfaced with navigational information. A temperature sensor close to the intake provides temperature measurements of the incoming water (T1). The temperature of the water inside the conductivity cell (T2) is used to accurately compute salinity (S) from the conductivity measurements (C). Here we present the 6-second resolution processed TSG data collected, between 30 November 2018 and 14 March 2019, during Voyage 035 on the SA Agulhas II.

DOI: 10.15493/dea.mims.25010009
Processed underway Thermosalinograph (TSG) observations from the SA Agulhas II Voyage 036, April 2019

A SeaBird SBE45 Thermosalinograph (TSG) is used to opportunistically collect underway near-surface temperature and conductivity measurements during research and monitoring cruises. Water is continuously pumped to the TSG from an intake located in the hull of the vessel, and the observations are continuously interfaced with navigational information. A temperature sensor close to the intake provides temperature measurements of the incoming water (T1). The temperature of the water inside the conductivity cell (T2) is used to accurately compute salinity (S) from the conductivity measurements (C). Here we present the 10-second resolution processed TSG data collected, between 10 April 2019 and 14 May 2019, during Voyage 036 on the SA Agulhas II.

(No DOI)
Raw TSG data from the South Coast Mooring Cruise on the Algoa Voyage 208, July 2014

This is raw Thermosalinograph (TSG) data collected on the South Coast Mooring Cruise on the Algoa Voyage 208, 9 to 24 July 2014. The South Coast Mooring Cruise had two scientific objectives: (1) Service, maintain and extend the in situ operational oceanography network currently deployed around South Africa and (2) to investigate the dynamics of the Port St Johns eddy and biological implications. Between 1988 and 2011, environmental and plankton sampling was conducted every summer along the South Coast during the annual pelagic spawner biomass surveys. Data collected during these cruises has provided valuable insight into environmental change in this region. There has been significant decline in copepod biomass on both the western and central Agulhas Bank over the past two decades, as well as a decline in the proportion of the large dominant species Calanus agulhensis, resulting in a shift towards a smaller copepod-dominated community. These changes are thought to have been largely...

(No DOI)
Raw CTD data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 218, September 2015

This is raw Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data from the St Helena Bay Monitoring Line September 2015 cruise (now under the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela). The St Helena Bay Monitoring Line was initiated as a BENEFIT-driven project on "shipboard monitoring" which linked with similar lines run in Namibia and Angola. The aims are to obtain seasonal and interannual information on the hydrology and productivity of the area. Data on harmful algal blooms, low oxygen water and intrusions of Agulhas Bank water along the west coast will also be collected. A long-term, multi-decadel time-series (from 1951 onward) of information already exists for this important region and has continued in the form of the IEP:SB to detect long-term changes in the hydrology and the plankton, which are important for the detection of regime shifts.

(No DOI)
Raw TSG data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 218, September 2015

This is raw Thermosalinograph (TSG) data from the St Helena Bay Monitoring Line September 2015 cruise (now under the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela). The St Helena Bay Monitoring Line was initiated as a BENEFIT-driven project on "shipboard monitoring" which linked with similar lines run in Namibia and Angola. The aims are to obtain seasonal and interannual information on the hydrology and productivity of the area. Data on harmful algal blooms, low oxygen water and intrusions of Agulhas Bank water along the west coast will also be collected. A long-term, multi-decadel time-series (from 1951 onward) of information already exists for this important region and has continued in the form of the IEP:SB to detect long-term changes in the hydrology and the plankton, which are important for the detection of regime shifts.

(No DOI)
South African Weather Service (SAWS) data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on the Algoa Voyage 218, September 2015

This is South African Weather Service (SAWS) data from the St Helena Bay Monitoring Line September 2015 cruise (now under the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela). The St Helena Bay Monitoring Line was initiated as a BENEFIT-driven project on "shipboard monitoring" which linked with similar lines run in Namibia and Angola. The aims are to obtain seasonal and interannual information on the hydrology and productivity of the area. Data on harmful algal blooms, low oxygen water and intrusions of Agulhas Bank water along the west coast will also be collected. A long-term, multi-decadel time-series (from 1951 onward) of information already exists for this important region and has continued in the form of the IEP:SB to detect long-term changes in the hydrology and the plankton, which are important for the detection of regime shifts.

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.64122022
Processed CTD discrete observations from the West Coast Hake Biomass on the Africana Voyage 039, January 1986

This is processed Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) discrete data from the West Coast Hake Biomass on the Africana Voyage 039, collected between 08 January and 05 February 1986. The cruise operated in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) region on the west coast of South Africa. The objectives of this cruise were to survey by means of trawling the abundance of adult and recruiting hake; to investigate the diurnal cycle of hake and other demersal species; to investigate the environment and ecological interrelationships of hake and other demersal species; to carry out acoustic target identification of mesopelagic species with RMT 8 nets; to make a few experimental trawls in deep water to search for the other species of monkfish and to determine the offshore limit of hake distribution; if possible to rendezvous with Spanish and Soviet vessels and to carry out standardisation trawls in parallel and to conduct net mouth-opening experiments with transducers on each wing...

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.04462023
Processed CTD discrete observations from the West Coast Hake Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage 050, January 1987

Here we present processed Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) discrete data from the upcast collected between 06 January and 31 January 1987, during the West Coast Hake Biomass Cruise on the Africana Voyage 050, in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) region on the west coast of South Africa. Neil Brown MK3 and MK4 CTD instruments were used to measure pressure, temperature and conductivity through the water column during research and monitoring cruises between 1983 and 2000. The objectives of the cruise were to survey by means of trawling the abundance of adult and recruiting hake; to investigate the the diurnal cycle of hake and other demersal species; to investigate the environment and interrelationships of hake and other demersal species; to establish the offshore limit of hake and monkfish distribution and to collect deep-water specimens of fish and cephalopods; to conduct mouth-opening experiments with transducers on each wing of the net, and to compare the...

(No DOI)
No Download
Raw CTD data from the West Coast Cetacean Distribution and Abundance Survey on the Algoa Voyage 231, October 2016

Raw Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data for the 2016 West Coast Cetacean Cruise. The survey operated on the shelf and slope regions off the west coast of South Africa, between Area 1 (Dassen Island, 18.23669, -33.457 and Groenriviermond, 17.52061, -30.8277) and Area 2 (North-East Robben Island and Cape Point). This cruise was undertaken for data collection as part of a collaborative project led by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) in collaboration with the Whale Unit, Mammal Research Institute of the University of Pretoria, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA), Aqualie Institute (Brazil) and Oregon State University (USA). The greater programme is titled "Large whale research: genetic relatedness, stock identification, abundance, feeding and migratory behavious". The large whale research programme has two components, the east coast and west coast components. This cruise focused on the west...

(No DOI)
No Download
Raw SAWS Weather data from ACEP Deep Secrets: The Outer Shelf and Slope Ecosystems of the Eastern Cape on the Algoa Voyage 230, September 2016

This is raw SAWS weather data collected on the ACEP Deep Secrets Cruise which set out to fill in gaps and shed light on the priority areas and research questions identified during the recent Marine Protected Area and Marine Spatial Planning Initiatives of Operation Phakisa’s Marine Protection and Governance Lab. Using underwater cameras (SkiMonkey and Drop camera), grabs, dredges and a CTD the study aimed to improve our knowledge on marine offshore habitats, as well as to build understanding of the effects of the expanding fishing and petroleum industries on marine offshore communities.

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.05152023
Processed CTD continuous observations from the South Coast Hake Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage 056, September 1987

Here we present processed downcast Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) continuous data collected between 08 September and 05 October 1987, during the South Coast Hake Biomass Cruise on the Africana Voyage 056, in the southern part of the Agulhas Current Large Marine Ecosystem (ACLME) on the south coast of South Africa and the southern part of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) region on the west coast of South Africa. Neil Brown MK3 and MK4 CTD instruments were used to measure pressure, temperature and conductivity through the water column during research and monitoring cruises between 1983 and 2000. The objectives of the cruise were to survey by means of trawling the abundance of adult and recruiting hake, sole and other trawl target species; to investigate the environment and ecological interrelationships of hake and other demersal species in the various depth strata; to investigate the occurence, distribution and abundance of squid and squid larvae; to...

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.05172023
Processed CTD discrete observations from the South Coast Hake Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage 056, September 1987

Here we present processed Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) discrete data from the upcast collected between 08 September and 05 October 1987, during the South Coast Hake Biomass Cruise on the Africana Voyage 056, in the southern part of the Agulhas Current Large Marine Ecosystem (ACLME) on the south coast of South Africa and the southern part of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) region on the west coast of South Africa. Neil Brown MK3 and MK4 CTD instruments were used to measure pressure, temperature and conductivity through the water column during research and monitoring cruises between 1983 and 2000. The objectives of the cruise were to survey by means of trawling the abundance of adult and recruiting hake, sole and other trawl target species; to investigate the environment and ecological interrelationships of hake and other demersal species in the various depth strata; to investigate the occurence, distribution and abundance of squid and squid larvae; to...

DOI: 10.15493/dea.mims.20210417
Processed underway Thermosalinograph (TSG) observations from SA Agulhas II Voyage 030, April 2018

A SeaBird SBE45 Thermosalinograph (TSG) is used to opportunistically collect underway near-surface temperature and conductivity measurements during research and monitoring cruises. Water is continuously pumped to the TSG from an intake located in the hull of the vessel, and the observations are continuously interfaced with navigational information. A temperature sensor close to the intake provides temperature measurements of the incoming water (T1). The temperature of the water inside the conductivity cell (T2) is used to accurately compute salinity (S) from the conductivity measurements (C). Here we present the 6-second resolution processed TSG data collected between 07 April 2018 and 06 May 2018, during Voyage 030 on the SA Agulhas II.

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.06112024
South Coast Demersal Inshore Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage 106, September 1992

The South Coast Demersal Inshore Biomass Survey was conducted on the Africana Voyage 106 from 02 to 23 September 1992. The objectives of the survey were to conduct a stratified bottom trawl survey to assess the biomass, abundance and distribution of hake, sole, horse mackerel, squid and other trawl species with emphasis on 'inshore' fishing areas for recruitment estimates; to investigate the hydrology and current profiles of the South Coast and to relate this to the distribution pf the major demersal trawl species. This included five transects extending from specified areas in the South Coast and approximately perpendicular to the coastline out towards the main stream of the Agulhas Current. A 'mini' CTD transect grid in the Cape St Francis area was also done; to do a selected number of midwater trawls to investigate the distribution and abundance of deep-water fauna; to conduct routine biological and length frequency sampling of demersal species; to sample squid intensively to...

(No DOI)
Chl-a data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on Algoa Voyage 244, November 2017

First look at Chl-a data from a survey of West Coast of South Africa, Algoa Voyage 244, as part of the Integrated Ecosystem Programme.

(No DOI)
Chl-a data from the Integrated Ecosystem Programme: Southern Benguela (IEP:SB) on Algoa Voyage 246, February 2018

First look at Chl-a data from a survey of West Coast of South Africa, Algoa Voyage 246, as part of the Integrated Ecosystem Programme from the 15 to 22 February 2018. IEP:SB focuses on the biologically productive, cold waters of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem, which are inherently variable on short time-scales and responsive to changing weather patterms. The research aims to provide relevant, reliable and improved assessment of the ecosystem, in support of its effective management, preservation and conservation, so that South Africans can benefit from a healthy and well-functioning ocean environment. The overarching objective is to enhance understanding in process studies by assessing the importance, timing and magnitude of mechanisms and processes that influence the Southern Benguela ecosystem structure and functioning, including the climate variability.

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.40112024
South Coast Demersal Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage 111, April 1993

The South Coast Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage 111 was conducted from 15 April 1993 to May 12 1993. The main objectives of the cruise were to conduct a stratified bottom trawl survey to assess the biomass, abundance and distribution of hake, sole, horse mackerel, squid and other trawl species on the Agulhas Bank; to investigate the hydrology and current profiles of the South Coast and to relate this to the distribution of the major demersal trawl species. This included five transects extending from specified points approximately perpendicular to the coastline out towards the shelf edge; a 'mini' CTD ransèct grid in the Cape St Francis area was also completed. To estimate the sex ratios of both hake species and the frequency of gill parasites; to do a selected number of deep bottom trawls (mid-water optional), to investigate the distribution and abundance of deep-water fauna. To conduct routine biological and length frequency sampling of demersal fish species and to sample...

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.45112024
Processed CTD continuous observations from the Anchovy Recruitment Survey on the Africana Voyage 112, May 1993

Here we present processed downcast Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) continuous data collected, between 18 May and 05 June 1993, during the Anchovy Recruitment Survey on the Africana Voyage 112, in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosysten (BCLME) region on the west coast of Southern Africa. Neil Brown MK3 and MK4 CTD instruments were used to measure pressure, temperature and conductivity through the water column during research and monitoring cruises between 1983 and 2000.

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.46112024
Processed CTD discrete observations from the Anchovy Recruitment Survey on the Africana Voyage 112, May 1993

Here we present processed Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) discrete data from the upcast collected, between 18 May and 05 June 1993, during the Anchovy Recruitment Survey on the Africana Voyage 112, in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) region on the west coast of Southern Africa. Neil Brown MK3 and MK4 CTD instruments were used to measure pressure, temperature and conductivity through the water column during research and monitoring cruises between 1983 and 2000.

DOI: 10.15493/DEA.MIMS.44112024
Processed CTD discrete observations from the South Coast Demersal Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage 111, April 1993

Here we present processed Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) discrete data from the upcast collected, between 15 April and 12 May 1993, during the South Coast Demersal Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage, 111 in the Agulhas Current Large Marine Ecosystem (ACLME) region on the south coast of Southern Africa. Neil Brown MK3 and MK4 CTD instruments were used to measure pressure, temperature and conductivity through the water column during research and monitoring cruises between 1983 and 2000.

Geographic extent

Temporal extent