Nansen-Zhu International Research Center at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences organised and hosted a workshop on April 18th in collaboration with INTAROS' coordinator Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Norway. The workshop was attended by about 20 participants. The objective of the workshop was to present ongoing and planned activities by the Chinese partners in the INTAROS and Blue Action projects under H2020. The Chinese partners in these projects have obtained national funding to participate and contribute to both projects.

Research Directors, Stein Sandven and Yongqi Gao, NERSC, lead the workshop. They say the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) is the only institute in China working exclusively for scientific study and logistical support for polar research. The PRIC is responsible to implement the Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE) program. Scientists from PRIC contribute to INTAROS with field observations of snow and ice in the central Arctic using the research icebreaker R/V Xuelong.

The National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center (NMEFC) of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) has primary responsibility in China for marine environmental forecasting and marine disaster forecasting, including marine warnings to prevent and mitigate disasters, and providing support for national marine activities and operations. The NMEFC supports INTAROS’ ocean, sea ice and meteorological modelling and observations, including deployment of Sea-Ice Mass Balance Array (SIMBA) in the central Arctic Ocean. The Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth – Chinese Academy of Science (RADI CAS) has as its main task the development of Earth observations from Chinese satellites; it conducts remote sensing science and distributes data from the satellites. RADI will contribute to INTAROS with satellite remote sensing data for the Arctic regions and will develop a collaboration with the Digital Belt and Road programme in China.

Recently, China published its Arctic policy white paper, where increased research in the Arctic is of high priority. The Chinese partners are expected to become significant contributors to observation, modelling and forecasting in the Arctic.

“INTAROS and other Arctic projects can have great benefits in advancing collaborative efforts with PRIC, NMEFC, RADI and other leading Chinese research institutions,” says Sandven.