The South African National Antarctic Programme (or SANAP) is the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n government's programme for research in the

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

and

Subantarctic The sub-Antarctic zone is a physiographic region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46th parallel south, 46° and 60th parallel south, 60° south of t ...

. Three research stations fall under this programme: the Antarctica research station

SANAE IV SANAE IV is a current South African Antarctic research base located in Vesleskarvet, Queen Maud Land. The base is part of the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP) and is operated by the South African National Antarctic Expedition ...

, and one station each on the subantarctic islands

Gough Island Gough Island ( ), also known historically as Gonçalo Álvares, is a rugged volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan d ...

and

Marion Island The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited subantarctic volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean that are administered by South Africa. They are named Marion Island (named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 1724–1772) and P ...

. These stations are managed and administered by the Directorate: Antarctic and Islands of the

Department of Environmental Affairs The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) is one of the departments of the South African government. It is responsible for protecting, conserving and improving the South African environment and natural resources. It ...

Borga Base Borga Base was a semipermanent Antarctic research station operated by South Africa named after Borg Massif where it was located. It was created to house 4-5 people year-round and was 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of the location of South Afric ...

was also operated by SANAP from 1969 to 1976. The mission of the South African National Antarctic Programme is to increase understanding of the natural environment and life in the Antarctic and

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

through appropriate science and technology. South Africa is one of the original signatory states of the

Antarctic Treaty The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of A ...

Experiments

In April 2017, SANAP launched an experiment on

called Probing Radio Intensity at high-Z from Marion (PRIZM), searching for signatures of the

hydrogen line The hydrogen line, 21 centimeter line, or H I line is a spectral line that is created by a change in the energy state of solitary, electrically neutral hydrogen atoms. It is produced by a spin-flip transition, which means the dire ...

in the early universe. There are other global experiments looking for the same signal, but PRIZM is set apart by its location on Marion Island, which, at 2000 km from the nearest permanent inhabitants, is one of the most remote locations on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, allowing access to the full frequency range of the global signal without radio-frequency interference.

Notable people associated with the program

*Prof

Bettine van Vuuren Bettine van Vuuren is the Registrar and a Member of the Executive at the University of Johannesburg. She is also a Professor of Zoology and Director of the Centre for Ecological Genomics and Wildlife Conservatio at the University of Johannesburg ...

, zoologist

References

External links

Official SANAP websiteWiki site for Southern Ocean Islands and Antarctica
Antarctic agencies {{SouthAfrica-gov-stub

Experiments

Notable people associated with the program

See also

References

External links