On the morning of April 16, Ambassador Blake delivered remarks highlighting the importance of international science and technology cooperation in ocean-climate observation, alongside the Chairmen of the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG), the Indonesian Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), and the Acting Executive Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs (MENKO Maritim).
The event celebrated the imminent launch of the Indonesian research vessel Baruna Jaya I on a joint research cruise to install and maintain oceanographic research buoys as part of an ongoing, cooperative U.S.-Indonesian effort to help improve weather and climate forecasting in the Indian Ocean. Indonesian officials expressed appreciation for U.S. support through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for their Indonesian Program Initiative on Maritime Observation and Analysis (InaPRIMA), stressing the importance of the collaboration for improving meteorological data locally and globally, given linkages to climate change and extreme weather prediction.
This particular cruise, which includes over two dozen Indonesian scientists and researchers, and two technicians from NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, is dedicated to the recovery of three and deployment of five deep-water ocean moorings as part of the Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA). RAMA is a multi-national effort to improve our understanding of the African-Asian-Australian monsoon system and its far field impacts. It complements a number of other moored arrays in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
