News
The research team of SIO participated in the first GEOTRACES-CHINA scientific expedition
Date：2019-06-04
Hits:12629
In June, the team of Researcher Chai Fei from SIO participated in China’s first GEOTRACES-CHINA voyage. This voyage was jointly organized by our institute, Xiamen University, Ocean University of China and other units, and scientists from China, the United States, Canada, Germany and other countries participated in it.
This is the first time that China has independently carried out a scientific investigation of trace elements, aiming to explore the key geochemical processes of trace elements in the upper ocean such as iron, phosphorus and cobalt. These trace elements limit the primary productivity in more than half the world’s oceans, and their distribution and source are important for understanding the evolution of marine ecosystems, climate change and fishery output.
Relying on the newly-built “Jia Geng” ultra-clean scientific expedition vessel of Xiamen University, the GEOTRACES-CHINA voyage researches on trace elements and their isotopic oceanographic processes in the ultra-oligotrophic seas of the Northwest Pacific Ocean, and explores related chemical-biological processes and physical driving mechanism for the first time. The project plans to carry out 50-day field observations, hoping to explore the source and distribution of the trace iron element in the upper ocean, analyze the control mechanism of iron on biological carbon and nitrogen fixation, and evaluate the impact of iron input on marine ecosystem under climate change by combining high-precision ecological models.
