Fuel shortages at a sub-Antarctic Marion Island base has forced South African government to withdraw it’s researchers from the Island.
The Iran-US war is largely to blame for triggering the fuel supply shortages to the Island.
The “urgent evacuation of the overwintering team” was ordered after the SA Agulhas II, an icebreaking polar-supply ship, got held up in Cape Town for weeks waiting for the fuel, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, said in a statement late Thursday.
The station requires polar diesel that doesn’t freeze in extreme cold.
The SA Agulhas II departed on Thursday to pick up the team and is expected to arrive on May 18.
Marion Island is one of three South African bases located in remote areas.
“As we are unsure when these fuel products will be available, we cannot wait any longer at the expense of the wellbeing of our team,” Environment Minister Willie Aucamp said in the statement.
SA Agulhas II takes around five days to reach the research base on Marion Island
South Africa has turned to the US for fuel supplies, but the switch has still resulted in disruptions at the far away base.
Inside the Marion Island Mission
Marion Island is located in the Southern Ocean and around 1,242 miles southeast of Cape Town.
The research base on the island supports South African-led studies in climate science and oceanography. The base also hosts international collaborative research projects on Antarctica.
South Africa is the only African nation with a footprint in Antarctica, at a time when the region is highly contested by the global superpowers.
The research output of South African scientists in Antarctica is also highly rated, at times outperforming heavyweights in the West.
A recent Antarctic Research Trends report led by Sweden’s Umeå University found that South Africa is amongst the top countries in the world producing high-quality research on Antarctica and Southern Ocean science.
The Umeå University report analyzed nearly 30,000 peer-reviewed publications on Antarctica, published between 2016 and 2024.
Out of 116 world’s top universities undertaking Antarctica research, the University of Cape Town and its South African research partners ranked 35th position, ahead of Oxford in position 67, Stanford in 79, and Princeton in 82nd.
Notably, the report did not just analyze research quantity, which most of the premier universities excel in, but also research quality using the criteria of studies that were more often cited.