Arguably the greatest contribution the ocean makes to the amelioration of global climate change is through thermohaline overturning. The greater Agulhas Current system forms a key link in this global thermohaline circulation, since it is the inter-ocean conduit for warm Indian Ocean water to the Atlantic Ocean. This local process has in recent years been the focus of a considerable number of international oceanographic projects. Two components of the circulation in the Agulhas Current system have been largely neglected in this research. They are the sources of the Agulhas Current itself and the manner in which the products of the Agulhas Current that leak into the South Atlantic distribute their excess heat and salt in this ocean basin. A set of Dutch cruises, with the acronyms MARE and ACSEX, are now about to be carried out to address precisely these outstanding problems. Further information on these programmes is available on the Internet at http://kellia.nioz.nI/projects/mare [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]