"Experiment 6" maiden voyage ends scientific expedition successfully completed
Diary of the First Flight of Experiment 6
On September 15th, the "Experiment 6" scientific research ship (hereinafter referred to as "Experiment 6") dropped anchor at the Pearl River Estuary anchorage and returned to the Guangzhou Xinzhou Wharf, the place of departure, after waiting for the tide to rise.
Du Yan, researcher and deputy director of the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and chief scientist of the "Experiment 6" maiden voyage, said that this voyage was a complete success in the implementation of the major scientific investigation mission in the northern part of the South China Sea.
During this voyage, the scientific expedition team conducted comprehensive scientific expeditions at 30 stations from September 6th to 14th.
The operations include CTD (temperature and salt depth measuring instrument) water collection, multi-networked biological sampling, multi-tube mud mining, box grab, gravity column sampling, and deployment of drifting buoys, underwater gliders, air sounding balloons, XCTD (casting Disposable temperature and salt depth measuring instrument) and so on.
According to Du Yan, the algae resources and ecological engineering group, the marine microbial natural drug biosynthesis group, the marine microbial coating group, the marine plankton ecology group, and the physical ocean and ecological process group in the scientific expedition team have obtained a large number of samples.
Among them, the number of samples obtained in some single research projects is as high as 750.
The total number of samples exceeds 2000 (groups).
Huang Sijun, a researcher at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the scientific expedition for the first voyage of "Experiment 6" was very successful, and a large number of samples were obtained in a short period of time.
At present, the scientific expedition team has processed about 1/3 of the samples with the help of the on-board laboratory, and the remaining samples will be processed and analyzed after returning to the laboratory in the institute.
During the maiden voyage of "Experiment 6", affected by typhoons "Consen" and "Santo", the scientific expedition team adjusted the voyage positions, and took the entry of typhoon "Consen" into the South China Sea as the node, and divided the scientific expedition tasks into Two flight segments.
The main task of the first leg is to study the mesoscale warm vortex and shelf slope process in the northern part of the South China Sea.
In the second leg, the main goal is to study the response of the upper ocean in the South China Sea to typhoons.
The main research content includes the impact of typhoons on the three-dimensional structure of the upper ocean warm vortex, high-frequency internal waves and air-sea exchange, as well as the impact on plankton communities and ecological processes.
At the same time, it also made up the scientific research task of the first leg of the geology.
Du Yan said that the typhoon brought challenges to this scientific expedition, but it also brought opportunities.
"There are only 6 pairs of low-latitude, short-distance double typhoon events similar to'Conson' and'Sandu' recorded in the past 40 years. This provides us with a valuable opportunity to study the impact of typhoons on warm vortices."
In addition to scientific research operations, another important task of the maiden voyage of "Experiment 6" is to correct the marine scientific research instruments on board.
For example, use laboratory salinometers and standard seawater salinity to calibrate shipborne CTD and correct XCTD errors, and use airborne atmospheric observations to compare and correct marine atmospheric radiation interferometer observations.
Du Yan said that in this scientific expedition operation, the ship-borne scientific expedition equipment on "Experiment 6" played a great role.
For example, the shipborne ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Velocity Meter) observes sudden strong currents.
Li Xianpeng, engineer of the Engineering Technology Center of the Marine Science Expedition Fleet of the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the "Experiment 6" scientific research equipment supervisor, said that more than 90% of the "Experiment 6" scientific expedition equipment has been carried out in this scientific expedition. It has been applied in, and the operation effect is good, only some equipment needs to be improved.
Li Xianpeng told the reporter of Science and Technology Daily that the total investment of "Experiment 6" exceeded 500 million yuan, of which more than 40% of the investment was used for scientific research equipment, and some equipment is being installed one after another. A mature comprehensive scientific research ship".
(Science and Technology Daily "Experiment 6" Ship September 15th)