On November 15-20, the “BGC-Argo Principles and Applications International Training Course” hosted by the SIO was held in Hangzhou, and 19 trainees from Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Morocco, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and China participated in the training.

This training was funded by the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) Organization. The SIO officially joined the organization in July 2020, and actively responds to the initiatives of POGO on organizing international aid training courses and deeply participating in the United Nations “Ocean Decade” Program, so as to enhance disciplinary integration, exchange and innovation.

During the training, Senior Engineer Tanya Maurer from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in the United States, Dr. Marin Cornec from the Pacific Ocean Environmental Laboratory in the United States, Dr. Elena Terzić from the Institute of Oceanography of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor Huang Yibin from Xiamen University, Senior Engineer Liu Zenghong and Researcher Xing Xiaogang from the SIO respectively gave lectures to the trainees. The course revolves around BGC-Argo, an emerging marine biogeochemical observation platform. It not only covers knowledge-based lectures on the introduction of the Argo program, BGC-Argo buoy principle, BGC-Argo data quality control, and the application of BGC-Argo data in various fields such as marine ecological dynamics, biogeochemistry, ocean remote sensing and ocean numerical simulation, but also includes practical exercises on downloading, processing and analyzing BGC-Argo data. In the trainee presentation link, trainees presented their plans for future research using BGC-Argo data. The lecturers not only provided specific research plan guidance suggestions for the trainees, but also would keep assisting them in conducting BGC-Argo related research after the training.

This training course aims to take advantage of the technology and platform advantages of the SIO in Argo and BGC-Argo to provide technical training for developing countries in Asia and Africa, and build a scientific and technological exchange channel between China and countries jointly building the “Belt and Road” in the field of BGC-Argo observation and research, and take this opportunity to carry out multi-level cooperation and exchanges and create more cooperation chances. It has also further expanded the exchanges and cooperation with countries in Asia and Africa, and is also a beneficial practice for China to participate in global ocean governance and build a maritime community with a shared future.