BRIN's Sailing Day Program to improve weather, climate forecasts: BMKG

 Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Research and Innovation Agency's (BRIN's) 2022 Sailing Day program could support weather and climate forecast analysis through marine research expeditions, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has said.

"In addition, we can utilize the program to conduct geophysical analyses of the landscape of Indonesia," Head of the Education and Training Center of BMKG Nelly Florida Riama said during a webinar on the implementation of the first batch of the 2022 Sailing Day Program here on Wednesday.

The condition and the interaction of the sea and the atmosphere is considered to affect weather and climate, she noted.

Hence, further research is required to better understand the phenomenon, she said.

Thus, BMKG hopes to collaborate with BRIN through the implementation of 2022 Sailing Day Program to carry out the necessary research activities to find out the latest sea conditions and the impact of the ocean-atmospheric interaction, she added.

The marine research expedition program can also help the agency to inspect the observation equipment that have been placed at a number of points in the Indian Ocean as well as place new observation equipment in the other marine areas, she said.

"We expect that in addition to BRIN and BMKG, university researchers can also be involved in the expedition program," she added.

Through their collaboration, the two agencies will be able to conduct their respective research simultaneously during the expedition, thus the provided research facilities can be utilized more effectively and efficiently, she said.

The Sailing Day Program provides open and inclusive access to researchers, lecturers, and students to utilize BRIN's research vessels to conduct data acquisition and/or specimen collections, she informed.

The program covers the cost of the cruise, participants' accommodation and meals on board, as well as the services of the technicians and operators of the research equipment installed at the vessels, she said.

Currently, BRIN has five research vessels that can be deployed to support the implementation of 2022 Sailing Day, she added.