Recently, Xiangyanghong 18 research ship completed the 2018 (Spring) National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Open Research Cruise in the East China Sea and returned to Qingdao. The cruise lasted for 14 days from May 11 to 24, with a cumulative range of 2149.5 sea miles. During the cruise, spring inspections of 6 sections and 42 stations were carried out, and 1 subsurface buoy was successfully recovered. The ship carried 30 research members from more than 10 organizations, including the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), the First Institute of Oceanography (FIO), State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Ocean University of China, Fudan University, Tongji University, China University of Geosciences, East China Normal University, South China Normal University, East China University of Science and Technology, and Nanjing University. They carried out scientific research in marine hydrometeorology, marine ecological environment, geological environment, atmospheric physics and marine corrosion, with main focus on the marine environmental evolution and ecosystem response in the continental shelf of the East China Sea under the dual effects of human activities and global change.

As the organizer of the cruise, we made full use of the ship-borne survey equipment of Xiangyanghong 18 and effectively exerted the DP1 level positioning function of the ship according to NSFC Open Research Cruise's design principle of science, rationality, economy and fairness. We also established a mechanism of multi-task coordination, safe and efficient investigation, and full sharing of basic data, which ensured the successful implementation of the 2018 open research cruise in the East China Sea. Many valuable first-hand field survey data and samples are obtained through the cruise. The cruise has also promoted the research of fund programs by effectively addressing the difficulty in going to sea facing these programs , and improved the efficiency of marine research ships and supporting survey equipment. We will comply with the task schedule to complete the processing and quality control of the basic shared data, including CTD, five seawater inorganic nutrients and chlorophyll a, automatic meteorological station, and underway ADCP. We will communicate these data within the participating fund programs and submit them to NSFC Qingdao Oceanographic Data Sharing Service Center in time, so that the survey data of the cruise can be shared.