Pupils take a Leap into the Southern Ocean

Leap ahead: Nomaphelo Mvinjelwa (left), a Grade 11 student, and intern Lindelwa Mini of the Leap School for Science and Mathematics in Pinelands, will join a UCT oceanography research team heading for the Prince Edwards Islands in the Southern Ocean. One of the main aims is to attract young scholars into ocean sciences at UCT.

Grade 11 student Nomaphelo Mvinjelwa and intern Lindelwa Mini, both of the Leap School for Science and Mathematics in Pinelands, have been invited by Dr Isabelle Ansorge (oceanography) to join her UCT research team heading for the Prince Edwards Islands in the Southern Ocean.

As part of the International Polar Year, Ansorge and her team of four oceanography honours students, a post doc, an education officer from SAEON, as well as the Leap School duo, will spend five weeks aboard the South African research and supply vessel, the SA Agulhas. Ansorge and her team will be studying the ocean circulation between the Prince Edward Islands (Marion Island and Prince Edward Island) and 58° S.

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) freely carries water around the whole continent of Antarctica, but not without obstructions. Some, such as the Drake Passage, constrict its path, while others, such as mid-ocean ridges, may induce meandering in the current cores and the genesis of mesoscale turbulence.