Honors

Institute of Oceanography conducted the first Seaglider observations revealed striking interleaving layers in the Kuroshio east of Taiwan Source：MOST In 2015, with a vision of future observational technologies, the MOST sponsored the Marine Exploration Instrument Center at National Taiwan University (NTU) to purchase a Kongsberg Seaglider under the MOST granted integrated project “Observations of the Kuroshio Transport and Variability (OKTV).” The glider was aimed to collect data of hydrography, dissolved oxygen, fluorescence (can be converted to chlorophyll concentration) and back scatter of light in the water. Tasked with testing and…

https://www.most.gov.tw/most/attachments/26cf6c86-008a-41fe-8d77-3cce4c702f30

A 2700-yr tropical rainfall record of the central Indo-Pacific The low-latitude tropics inhabited by 40% of the global population experiences the most important rainfall zone on the planet, known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which accounts for one-third of the world’s total rainfall. Taiwan is located on the northern edge of this realm. This zone is also featured by the most important biosphere and the most complicated biodiversity. Vigorous regional atmospheric circulation transports heat and moisture to the middle and high latitudes. The slight hydrological change or small displacement…

Species diversity of marine bacterioplankton communities is predictable due to macro-evolutionary constraints   Hsiao-Pei Lu & Chih-hao Hsieh Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University A study in the East China Sea, led by Dr. Hsiao-Pei Lu and Prof. Chih-hao Hsieh, shows for the first time that diversity of marine bacteria community is strongly affected by macro-evolutionary constraints. This study is published (January, 2019) in The ISME Journal. http://www.oc.ntu.edu.tw/oceng/?p=15044

Top notch studies by NTU Department of Geosciences research team published in renowned Journal “Nature Geoscience “2018.9.24 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0221-6

Scientists unraveling the molecular details of DNA recombination regulation   An international team from National Taiwan University (NTU) and Tokyo Institute of Technology identified how DNA recombinational repair is regulated in a recent work published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). To repair damaged DNA, recombinases bind to DNA in order to initiate the repair work. However, the recombinase-DNA complex must be sufficiently stable to carry out the work. Scientists from NTU and Tokyo Tech work together to identify how another…

Predator and prey biodiversity relationship and its consequences on marine ecosystem functioning—Interplay between nanoflagellates and bacterioplankton Jinny Yang and Chih-hao Hsieh Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University Understanding the biodiversity effects across trophic levels via predator-prey interactions is an important issue in ecology. However, very few studies on this topic have been conducted for marine microorganisms. In the marine ecosystem, the predator-prey interactions between nanoflagellates and bacteria profoundly influence biogeochemical cycling and trophic transfer efficiency through the microbial loop. The research team therefore explored how microbial biodiversities of mutiple trophic…

Prof. Ming-Huei Chang's Kuroshio Current research selected for front cover of "Deep-Sea Research" journal Prof. Ming-Huei Chang (in the photo below) of the Institute of Oceanography reveals the physical processes underlying the Kuroshio meandering and transport variability east of Taiwan using an unprecedented 2-year field observational dataset. The findings of Prof. Chang’s research are crucial to the application of ocean current energy, the management of fishery resource, and the study of global change as well as the evolution of typhoons. This research is therefore selected by the Chief Editor of…

Observations in the context of numerical modeling examine the dynamics underlying eddy-Kuroshio interactions   Mesoscale eddies are everywhere in the ocean. These ocean swirls of either clockwise or counterclockwise spinning with diameter of about 100-300 km and rounding current speed of about 0.5 m/s, carrying energy and certain type of water mass, move westward and eventually reach the western boundary of each ocean. The evolution of these eddies and the interaction which occurs when they encounter the western boundary current, e.g. the Kuroshio in the western North Pacific, is important…