2019 China-Indonesia-US TRIUMPH survey cruise concluded successfully
| The Throughflow Indonesian Seas, Upwelling and Mixing Physics (TRIUMPH) survey cruise, jointly conducted by the First Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources (FIO, MNR), Center for Deep Sea Research of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and the University of Maryland (UMD) of the United States, was successfully completed on December 24, 2019 and returned to Muara Baru Port, Jakarta, Indonesia. Wei Zexun, deputy director of FIO, Yi Fanping, science counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia, Laksana Tri Handoko, president of LIPI, and representatives of relevant units of China and Indonesia went to the port to welcome the returning team members and held a cruise summary meeting. |
The 2019 TRIUMPH joint survey cruise started from Jakarta on November 18, and Baruna Jaya VIII, a marine research vessel of LIPI, was used. The cruise consists of two legs, lasting 37 days. Sixty-four scientists and investigators from China, Indonesia, and the United States participated in the cruise. The survey sea area of the first leg of the cruise mainly includes the tropical southeast Indian Ocean and Java upwelling area, focusing on the marine dynamic process related to climate change and Java upwelling; the second leg focuses on the throughflow and marine mixing process flowing through Makassar Strait, Bali Strait, Badung Strait, and Alas Strait. One set of Bailong buoy and two sets of subsurface buoy were recovered, one set of Bailong buoy and six sets of subsurface buoy were deployed, and CTD observation of 61 stations was carried out. In order to further understand the impact of throughflow, upwelling and mixing physics on the ecosystem, meteorological, turbulent and biogeochemical operations were carried out during the cruise, including VPR plankton observation, gravity geological sampling, biological vertical trawling, and other observations. At the cruise summary meeting, China and Indonesia had in-depth exchanges and discussions on the development direction and cooperation focus of the TRIUMPH scientific program in the next few years, and reached consensus on personnel exchanges, capacity-building and training of Indonesia, and joint scientific research.
In 2017, the TRIUMPH scientific program was jointly initiated and implemented by FIO, LIPI, and UMD. Through the long-term observation system of floating/subsurface buoy and seabed base in the key channels of Indonesian Seas and the upwelling area of tropical eastern Indian Ocean, the multi-scale change characteristics of Indonesian throughflow and Java upwelling and their basin scale and even global climate effects were studied. The cruise in 2019 is the longest and task-richest joint survey cruise that China and Indonesia have carried out. The successful development of this cruise has further consolidated the foundation of maritime cooperation between China and other countries such as Indonesia, enhanced mutual friendship and trust, and set a model of practical maritime cooperation between China and countries along the Maritime Silk Road.
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