German research on the Agulhas Current system between the World Wars : a lost scientific achievement

• Main Authors: Lütjeharms, Johann R. E., Kortum, Gerhard
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Deutsches Meeresmuseum 2005
• Subjects: Indian; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/23773/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/23773/1/Histor.%20Meereskundliches%20Jahrbuch%20Bd.11,%20S.73-98.pdf

The greater Agulhas Current system is currently the centre of substantial international nterest because of its perceived role in the inter-ocean exchange of water between the South Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean. This exchange forms a fundamental link in the global thermohaline circulation. German researchers paid considerable attention to the circulation in the South West Indian Ocean during the 1930s and they can be considered to have been the contemporary experts on this region. More than 30 scientific papers or books on the subject were produced by German oceanographers between 1929 and 1941; a major achievement at the time. After the Second World War this knowledge was used in a few major texts, but shortly afterwards largely disappeared from sight. By the time of the International Indian Ocean Expedition in the 1960s no further mention was made of this preceding German work. Using a bibliographic investigation we here track the manner in which this knowledge was lost and speculate on its causes.