The 3rd International Symposium of Western Pacific Ocean Circulation and Indonesian Throughflow (WPOC-ITF) Studies focusing on Western Boundary Currents and ENS0, Climate Dynamics was held successfully in the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), October 30-3l, 20l8.  This symposium was organized by the NSFC innovative group project: “Dynamics of the western Pacific Ocean circulation” and hosted jointly by the Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Functional Laboratory of Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology.  International experts specialized in large and meso-scale ocean circulation studies from the top U.S., English, and Australian universities and research institutions attended the meeting.  The symposium provided a forum for the Chinese scientists to exchange results on Western Boundary Currents, the Indonesian Throughflow, ENSO, and Climate studies with these top international experts.

Group Photo during the Tea Break

The 2-day symposium was composed of a plenary session and two parallel sub-sessions, containing invited and contributed presentations, respectively.  Forms of the presentation include oral and poster presentations.  There were 34 oral presentations in total, including 10 invited reports in the plenary session and 11 contributed reports in the two sub-sessions, respectively.  Twenty-four young scientists presented their work with posters.  The innovative group sub-session covers diverse yet coherent topics, including variability and dynamics of WBCs and the ITF, Indo-Pacific Ocean circulation and the warm pool, and ENSO and Climate dynamics.  At the same time, the western pacific cruise sub-session focuses on the topics of Environmental and climatic effects.

A closed-door evaluation of the innovative group presentations by the international panel was organized.  All foreign experts commended the high quality of the presentations and the success of the meeting organization: “This international symposium is one of the most successful meetings, and all topics are interesting and broadly covering”.  They suggested continued strengthening of the international collaborations, especially on academic exchanges for young researchers and students.

The 3rd WPOC-ITF International Symposium on Western Boundary Currents and ENS0, Climate Dynamics inherited the series of two symposiums held in Bali and Lombok Islands of Indonesia in late 20l6 and 20l7, respectively, and have assimilated the annual meeting of the NSFC innovative group project.  The series of the international symposium have made its name in the oceanography community and have attracted more and more international scholars to attend the meeting.

Chief Scientist Yuan Dongliang and the International Panel