R/V KEXUE, the research vessel of Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) fulfilled its NSFC (National Nature Science Foundation of China) Western Pacific Ocean Open-sharing Cruise 2019, which experienced 95 days and over 14000 sea miles, and returned back to her home port in Qingdao on January 5, 2020.

Fig.1 R/V SCIENCE back to Qingdao

The R/V KEXUE, sailing from Qingdao on 3 October 2019, passed through the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and western Pacific Ocean, and crossed Equator for several times. The purpose of this NSFC cruise is to provide ship-time for the NSFC projects related to the western Pacific Ocean. Drs. Shijian Hu and Linlin Zhang from IOCAS attended the cruise as the chief scientists, and 43 investigators from 12 research institutions and universities participated in this investigation, who have completed more than 40 research tasks from dozens of NSFC projects from across China and covering multi-disciplines including oceanography, marine chemistry, marine geology, marine biology and so on.

Fig. 2 Dunxin Hu, NPOCE SSC Chair, with Chief Scientists and Captains

Despite influenced by bad weather like strong cold air and typhoon and shortage of fresh supplies due to a very long duration, the investigation team has successfully completed the mission, which includes 121 stations, 218 CTD casts, 69 VMP (vertical microstructure profiler) stations, 19 MSS stations, 49 mooring/buoy stations and plenty of other sampling stations. These observations from the NSFC WPO cruise 2019 are obviously of much importance in better understanding the western Pacific Ocean from a multidisciplinary view. It is expected to makes a remarkable contribution to the scientific research associated with the western Pacific Ocean and beyond.

Fig. 3 Deployment of a subsurface mooring