Recently, the Center of Ocean and Climate Research of the First Institute of Oceanography (FIO) and the Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO-OA) have completed their first joint cruise with the scientific research vessel Offshore Limitless. One set of deep sea Bailong buoy and 8 sets of Argo floats have been successfully deployed in the international area to the northwestern Australia.

The joint cruise is one of the international observation programs for Years of the Maritime Continent (YMC) under the support of the Centre for Southern Hemisphere Oceans Research of the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao). It mainly serves for the study on upper ocean dynamics over the tropical southeast Indian Ocean, tropical intra-seasonal oscillation, and Australian Monsoon onset. Through high-frequency observation, collection, and real-time transmission of sea surface meteorological and subsurface ocean environmental data, the dynamic processes and air-sea interactions during the Australian Monsoon transition can be monitored in real time. More information about the joint cruise is available on the official website of YMC:

(http://www.jamstec.go.jp/ymc/campaigns/IOP_MAMOS_CSHOR.html).

Deep sea Bailong buoys were previously deployed in the critical areas with Asian Monsoon onset, succeeding in synchronizing data to the global telecommunication system (GTS) for sharing with the forecast centers around the world. For the first time, the Bailong buoy has been deployed in the critical area with Australian Monsoon Onset and been able to monitor the ocean dynamics and air-sea interactions during the Australian Monsoon transition in real time. It will provide powerful data support for the in-depth study on the unified theory of Asian-Australian Monsoon Onset.

Notably, this joint cruise is probably the most difficult one for the buoy team of the Center of Ocean and Climate Research in their career. Most of the members suffered severe seasickness because of the tough environment and limited operating conditions. Tough as the conditions were, the buoy team struggled to accomplish the predetermined task smoothly. The members of this scientific cruise include FIO's Duan Yongliang, Wang Huiwu, Liu Jianjun, Li Chao, Yang Yang, and Shen Hong, as well as the Australian engineer Ryan Crossing and post-doctor Je-Yuan Hsu.