The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean Circulation and Climate Experiment (NPOCE) program held its 2017 annual meeting in the Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China on June 08, 2017. The meeting was attended by more than 20 scientists from China, United States, Australia, Japan, and Korea, including 13 SSC members, co-chair of CLIVAR Pacific Panel Prof. Xiaopei Lin, Director of the Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (QNLM) Prof. Lixin Wu.
On behalf of the CLIVAR community, Prof. Xiaopei Lin thanked NPOCE for its outstanding international leadership in the western boundary circulation research. “NPOCE has greatly developed our knowledge of the Pacific ocean circulation through the much needed extensive observational program in the western Pacific” said Prof. Lin.
The meeting confirmed the new SSC membership based on the nomination process. The new SSC members elected Prof. Dunxin Hu as the SSC chair and Prof. Wenju Cai as the vice-chair. The new SSC thanked former vice-chair of NPOCE SSC Prof. Dongliang Yuan for his leadership and contribution. Prof. Yuan delivered the 2016 annual progress report, and members of NPOCE SSC presented their latest work, covering research progresses, research funding applications, and field experiments.
The SSC discussed and unanimously agreed upon a proposal to expand NPOCE to marine biogeochemistry research as its fifth theme, and a drive to increase NOPCE exposure to scientific, public and policy maker communities, including a video outlining NPOCE scientific achievements and science applications since its endorsement by CLIVAR in 2010. The SCC decided the next SSC meeting and the third Open Science Symposium (OSS) on Western Pacific Ocean Circulation and Climate to be held early May, 2018 in Qingdao.
The western Pacific is the 'engine' of the global climate system. With the world’s largest warm pool, the western Pacific plays a significant role in modulating the ENSO cycle, East Asia monsoon, South China Sea monsoon, and the global climate system through multi-scale air-sea interaction processes. As an international collaboration program, NPOCE is designed to observe, simulate, and understand the dynamics of the NWP ocean circulation and its role in low-frequency modulations of regional and global climate through internationally coordinated observations, studies of processes, and numerical modeling. In the last 7 years since NPOCE endorsed by CLIVAR, substantial progress has been made, and NPOCE will continue to lead research in the western Pacific Ocean circulation and climate and devote itself to serving the society.