As the convener of this workshop, I express my warmest wish of welcome to all of you, especially those who have come from very far a way. The host institution is JAMSTEC, and co-sponsors are shown here on the viewgraph. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of these co-sponsors, and to the program committee members.
From a global perspective, we can see that TOGA program has come to a successful end. WOCE is now entering into a synthesis phase, and CLIVAR is now being planned as a more comprehensive program within WCRP In this time frame, JAMSTEC is going to celebrate a major event. In October 1997, JAMSTEC will launch a new research vessel "Mirai", formerly the atomic energy vessel "Mutsu". Using Mirai, JAMSTEC plans to deploy a JAMSTEC buoy array beginning in early 1997 in the equatorial western Pacific, the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, and later in the middle and high latitude North Pacific. The key themes will be ENSO, Asian monsoon, and decadal variability. These studies, together with the Arctic Ocean studies by JAMSTEC on atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions, are collectively called the "Triangle Program".
The goals of this workshop are:
(1)To develop better guidelines in order to establish a plan for implementing the JAMSTEC buoy array,
(2)To enhance international cooperation including Asian countries both in research programs and logistics, and
(3)To exchange ideas related to other national programs and international research programs, prior to the implementation phase of CLIVAR.
I fervently hope that this workshop will end successfully and be of great benefit to all concerned.
