Collaboration boost for research

efficient power-generation systems were installed. A new water reticulation management system was installed, and this will allow for greater efficiency in the operations.”

Close collaboration with Antarctic flight operators had allowed for 30 people to remain at the base to continue the refurbishment work, the department said.

“They will fly back to South Africa later this month once their work is completed. The added efforts in preparation of the Skiway landing strip at Sanae IV have resulted in good feedback from the international aviation community.”

The department’s Dr Newi Makhado led the in-house departmental research project into setting up a monitoring system for sea birds in the Antarctic.

“The launch went very well and we managed to collect data on the population of the sea birds as well as foraging data. This will assist with the proclamation of the Marine Protected Area under the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and understanding the distribution of penguins and snow petrel.”

The SA National Space Agency conducted monitoring of the space environment close to the Earth. These activities are critical to the understanding of earth-space interactions and their effect on the planet, including how space and the sun can impact on things we take for granted like communications satellites.