Recently, Zou Jianjun, Wang Kunshan, Wu Yonghua, Liu Jianxing and Dong Zhi of the Marine Geology Office of our institute successfully returned to Qingdao after completing the scientific research mission of the "SO264" voyage of the "Sun Voyage". The SO264 voyage was jointly organized by the Kiel Oceanographic Research Center (GEOMAR) and the German Polar and Oceanographic Institute (AWI) and the research vessel was the German "Sun voyage". The voyage set sail in Suva, Fiji, on June 30, 2018, and arrived in Yokohama port, Japan, on August 24. It lasted 56 days and involved 38 scientists from Germany, China, the United States, Russia, Canada, France, Argentina, Chile, and other countries. Chinese scientists were mainly responsible for the study of sedimentology and paleoceanography.

The main scientific goal of SO264 voyage is to understand the process of environment and climate change in the North Pacific Ocean since the Pliocene, and to evaluate the role of the North Pacific Ocean in the global climate and carbon budget. During its voyage, the "Sun Voyage" carried out detailed marine geological, geophysical, oceanographic, chemical and marine biological surveys and sampling of the Emperor Seamount chain in the North Pacific, and obtained a large number of survey data and samples which include multi-tube and gravity piston core samples, biological trawl samples, full water depth CTD data and subsurface profile data and so on. The survey area of the voyage spans 20 latitudes from north to south, covering the western Pacific subpolar vortex and subtropical vortex, and this is the first time to carry out a systematic survey of the Emperor Seamount chain from south to north in the world. It is also the first time that Chinese scientists have obtained marine sediment samples and hydrologic and chemical data in the sea area. These samples and information will be studied by boarding scientists on a priority basis, the results of which are expected to contribute to a better understanding of past environmental and climate change processes in the North Pacific. 

During the SO264 scientific research period, five scientists of our institute were responsible for sediment deck sampling, sample segmentation, core cataloging, smear and mineral identification, sediment physical property testing, etc. They were impressed by the advanced survey equipment, strong sampling ability and efficient work of the "Sun Voyage". During the work interval, Chinese scientists and foreign scientists exchanged and discussed on sampling technology, the evolution of the pale-oceanic paleoclimatic climate in the North Pacific, and the role of the North Pacific in global climate change. After the voyage, the Chinese scientists will go to AWI in Germany to carry out the sampling work of sediment cores. 

Over the past few years, the research team led by the Stone theory researcher of the first Institute of Oceanography of the State Oceanic Administration has carried out in-depth collaborative research with the dynamic Laboratory of Palaeoclimate and the Laboratory of Marine Geology of the German Institute of Polar and Oceanography. During the previous collaborative study, the two sides jointly applied for a major Sino-German cooperation project in the field of oceans and polar regions, "Research on the Palaeoclimate Evolution of the Arctic and Subarctic Seas since the Last Ice Age (2014-2016)," which was funded by the former State Oceanic Administration and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany. A series of innovative achievements have been made in the study of paleoclimatic evolution of the paleoenvironment in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Currently, the two sides are jointly implementing the second phase of the Sino-German intergovernmental research project on international cooperation in the field of oceans and polar regions, "the North Pacific during the Quaternary Climate warming". The participation of the scientists of our institute in this scientific research project is part of a cooperative research project, which marks a new stage in the cooperation between the two parties.