IONTU-AORI bilateral workshop entitled “Northwestern Pacific Ocean Dynamics” was held on Dec 12-13, 2018. A total of 8 scientists (including a Ph.D student and a postdoc) from AORI were invited to IONTU. Accommodating four themes- Physical Oceanography, Marine Geology and Biogeography, Marine Biogeochemistry, and Marine Biodiversity and Ecology, 14 oral presentations were given during the workshop. After oral presentations, group-specific discussions followed up to determine the future cooperative plans.
The following research cooperative plans were initiated:
- Physical oceanography:
To examine the concept of “Kuroshio paradox” and associated physical and biological processes, we propose to add a sampling transect between the KTV1 line of SK-III (~23.75 deg. N) and the transect in the southern East China Sea northeast of Taiwan. The time needed for the ship survey may be incorporated into the corresponding cruises of R/V Hakuho Maru for OMIX in 2019. The aim is to complete a joint survey from the Kuroshio’s origin to the Kuroshio Extension region. - Marine geology and geophysics:
The Marine Geology and Geophysics (IONTU) and Department of Ocean Floor Geoscience (AORI-UTokyo) will continue the collaborations on hydrothermal activity research in Okinawa Trough. IONTU will search for opportunity to invite AORI scientists to join the survey cruise in South Okinawa Trough in 2019. Both sides will also cooperate on the research of marine geology and geophysics in Huatung Basin and Philippine Sea, and IONTU will be invited to join the R/V Hakuho cruise in 2020. - Isotope ecology:
Previous cooperation has resulted in two publications:
Shiao JC, Shirai K, Tanaka K, et al. (2018) Assimilation of nitrogen and carbon isotopes from fish diets to otoliths as measured by nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 32:1250‐1256.
Amano Y, Shiao JC, Ishimura T, Yokouchi K, Shirai K (2015) Otolith geochemical analysis for stock discrimination and the study of migratory ecology. In Biology & Ecology of Bluefin Tuna. Edited by Kitagawa T & Kimura S. (CRC Press).
Future cooperation will continue to share the isotopic analytic techniques, which can be used to study fish migration and other topics. - Biological oceanography
We will continue to cooperate on studying latitudinal variation of biodiversity and foodweb dynamics of plankton (microbes, phytoplankton, and zooplankton) along the Kuroshio Ecosystem from Taiwan to Japan. The aim is to examine planktonic ecosystem dynamics from the Kuroshio’s origin to the Kuroshio Extension region. - Taking advantage of the invitation fellowship of MOST and JSPS, scientists can have a longer stay for research cooperation in each institution. Scientists should be invited to join research cruises for cooperative projects. Both sides will seek opportunities to plan joined research cruises in the future.