Call for Participants

Expedition Program Of IMPOLSE (INDONESIAN MARITIME and WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN Long-term SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION) 2025

BACKGROUND

Joint cruises, the eastern inflow of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) in especially its eastern inflow, but the outflows at Lombok, Ombai, and Timor remain unclear. To address these gaps and explore related ecosystem and turbulence issues, both parties signed a new agreement in 2022 to conduct multidisplinary marine science cruises over the next five years 

OBJECTIVES

This program is dedicated to:

1. To observe and study the circulation pattern and variations at the entrance and exit channel of the ITF in the eastern part of the Indonesian Throughflow.
2. To identify the distribution and composition of microplastics in the Indonesian sea; to compare the variation of microplastics before and after the Covid-19 pandemic
3. To understand the turbulent mixing dynamics and ITF hydrographic structure: to  measure spatio-temporal variability of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation and diffusivity along the ITF in different straits and passage; resolve thermohaline variability and water mass modification across straits.
4. Validate climate and ocean models. To provide benchmark datasets to improve parameterization in global ocean and climate models

FIELD ACTIVITIES

In principle, two types of activities will take place during the 2025 joint expedition: physical oceanography and sampling activities. The marine scientific research expedition will last for 31 days, with the activity groups during the expedition outlined as follows.

A. Physical Oceanography Activity

1. Snapshot Measurement

The survey will conduct snapshot measurements of CTD, ADCP and Single Beam Echosounder (SBES) measurements during the scientific cruising of the expedition. The cruising speed between stations is expected to be 7 knots. The datasets collected are in digital format (recorded by the instruments). Totally, there will be 46 CTD stations. The station positions (coordinates) for the CTD cast are shown in Figure 1

Figure 1.Geographical distribution of CTD stations, mooring placements and recovery during IMPOLSE 2025. Note that the TRBM and ARGO deployment are cancelled during the IMPOLSE 2025.

2. Deploy, Rotate and Recovery of the Moored Instruments

Six moorings will be handled during the expedition, i.e., in the Lifamatola Passage (2), Maluku Channel (3), Halmahera Sea (1) will be retrieved. Four moorings in the: Makassar Strait (1), Lombok Strait (1), will be newly deployed (tentative). Two moorings in the Maluku Channel will be rotated. Map of the proposed locations is shown in Figure 1. Only related to electronic data obtained by the mooring instruments.

B. Sample Involved Activity (SIA)

These Sample Involved Activities will be collected by Indonesian and Chinese scientists. Samples agreed by both sides will be carried out during the joint cruise. There are several material samples will be collected during the cruise, including seawater, suspended particles, microplastics, and sediments. Several sample collection work will be done during the cruise.. 

MOORING INSTRUMENT

Some instruments and equipment needed for the mooring deployment are available and stored in the Warehouse in KST BJ Habibie PUSPIPTEK-BRIN, Serpong, Indonesia. All instruments will be handled by Directorate for Research Vessel Management, Deputy for Infrastructure Research and Innovation. Table 4 shows the detail of instruments needed for the IMPOLSE 2025.

RESEARCH VESSEL

KR Geomarin III

Figure 2. KR Geomarin III

Tabel 2. KR Geomarin III Specification

Tabel 3 Equipment

CALL FOR PARTICIPANT TIMELINE