Predicting Future Oceans... KIOST Selected for UN Decade of Ocean Science 'North Pacific Weekly and Seasonal Forecast' Project

Observation points of onboard monitoring conducted in summer 2021 in the high seas of the Bering Sea and the Philippine Sea.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) is embarking on a project to predict the future of the ocean and atmosphere in the North Pacific.

In response to global climate change and to contribute to sustainable ocean development, KIOST (President Kim Woong-seo) participated last September in the UN Ocean Decade program ‘ForeSea: Ocean Forecasting for the Future,’ led by the UN Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO/IOC).

KIOST announced on the 25th that it proposed the ‘Subseasonal to Seasonal North Pacific Prediction’ project within this program and was finally selected.

The UN has declared the ‘UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development’ and is encouraging actions to achieve its goals.

Through participation in this project, KIOST plans to enhance future ocean forecasting capabilities by providing high-resolution North Pacific atmosphere-ocean forecasts, seasonal predictions of the North Pacific using the Earth System Model (KIOST-ESM), and observational data on atmosphere-ocean interactions in the Bering Sea and the Western Pacific.

KIOST-ESM is a numerical prediction model developed by KIOST that simulates global carbon cycles and predicts various climate indicators such as sea surface temperature, salinity, and sea level temperature worldwide.

Amid increasing high-temperature phenomena in waters around the Korean Peninsula due to global warming, the research team led by Principal Researcher Park Young-gyu at KIOST’s Ocean Circulation Research Center has been conducting a four-year research project titled ‘Investigation and Prediction System Development for High-Temperature Phenomena around the Korean Peninsula Originating from the Arctic-Subarctic and Western Pacific,’ supported by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

The research team conducts ocean environment observations in the Bering Sea and Philippine open waters using the KIOST research vessel Isabu, and performs time-series observations of atmosphere-ocean boundary interactions using unmanned observation systems such as wave gliders and surface buoys.

Difference in surface water temperature between summer 2021 (July, August) and the average summer (2001-2020 average).

Additionally, they analyzed the causes of high-temperature phenomena that occurred in the summer of 2021 in waters surrounding Korea using observational data.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agreed at the ‘Korea-US Marine Science and Technology Cooperation Annual Meeting’ that KIOST and NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), which leads international development of climate and ocean circulation models, will jointly pursue the project ‘Modeling and Assessment of the Impact of Ocean Processes on Climate Variability, Change, and Extreme Events in the Northwest Pacific’ starting in 2023.

KIOST President Kim Woong-seo stated, “We expect KIOST to make a significant contribution to sustainable ocean development by participating in the historic mission of achieving the UN Ocean Decade goals,” adding, “We will focus on strengthening future ocean forecasting capabilities and solidifying international cooperation with related countries to protect the safety of our citizens.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.