1998 International Year of the Ocean
Activities & Events - Conferences
Conference Information

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IOC/KOICA/KORDI, Trainig Course on Marine and Coastal Environmental Conservation to be held in Ansan, Republic of Korea, from 18 to 31 October 1998 (including shipboard training) to celebrate the '98 International Year of the Ocean

Introduction

We are pleased to invite nominations of suitable candidates for participation in the above-mentioned course, jointly organized to celebrate the '98 International Year of the Ocean by the IOC Secretariat and the Korean International Cooperation Agency ( KOICA ), with the assistance of the Ministry of Maritime Affaires and Fisheries( MOMAF), the Ministry of Science and Technology( MOST) and the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) of the Republic of Korea, for the benefit of marine scientists from the IOC-WESTPAC region.

The course will mainly be held in the campus of KORDI in Ansan City, 30 kilometers to the Southwest from Seoul. The shipboard training will be done on board R/V Onnuri, KORDI's main research vessel, equipped with the ocean survey systems of the latest fashion.

The course will be funded by the Government of the Republic of Korea through KOICA and KORDI and supported by IOC, who contributes also a special lecturer for the Application of Remote Sensing on Coastal Environment.

The course has been initiated to respond to the urgent needs of IOC Member States in the WESTPAC region to enhance their capabilities to improve understanding about the marine processes and phenomena, which is prerequisite for the proper management of marine and coastal areas for which most Member States of the Region are deeply concerned. The course is also designed to allow the marine scientists of the region to develop the marine scientific observation system with a view to gathering more qualified data indispensable in establishing, implementing and improving the technical support for marine and coastal area management systems.

To meet with the requirements raised by the participants of the past years training through their reply to the questionnaires after each course, the training course for this year will be focused on the problems of coastal environment related to the Trace Metals in the coastal water and the bottom sediments in particular.

Therefore, the immediate objective of the course will be to provide the scientists from the developing countries of the region the occasion to learn and to be trained in order to be acquainted in particular with validated analytical methods and advanced techniques of trace metal analysis in the coastal environment in order to properly evaluate the effects of the contamination of trace metals on marine organisms in their oceanographic studies relevant to sustainable living and nonliving resources, utilization of marine and coastal space, protection of marine and coastal as well as oceanographic surveying techniques.

Course Programme

The course is designed to have three major components to enable the participants to get efficiently involved in planning research projects and survey cruises in their home institutes:

1) Core Lectures on fundamentals and methodology of trace metal analysis;
2) On board lectures and practices of sampling and monitoring techniques;
3) Special lectures on Korean research activities including some of their results.

The duration of the course will be two weeks, from Sunday 18 October to Saturday 31 October 1998 including the cruise on board of A Korean research vessel. The course will also include visits to universities and research institutes in the Republic of Korea and brief excursions to coastal areas near KORDI.

The Core Lectures will be given on the subjects tentatively as follows:

-Trace metals in seawater;
-Trace metals in sediments and bivalves;
-Behavior of trace metals in the marine environment;
-Bioaccumulation of trace metals;
-Organotins in sediment, bivalves and gastropoda;
-Harmful effects of Organotins;
-Pretreatment of samples;
-Instrumental analysis;
-QA/QC of marine environmental monitoring data.

The Cruise will include on board lectures on the measuring and sampling methods and relevant practices. The subjects of the on board lectures will be as follows:

-Observation and measurement of chemical and physical properties;
-Sampling and storage of seawater and marine organisms for trace metal analysis;
-Bottom sediment sampling using a box corer.

Special Lectures will be given on the results of case studies and on Korean oceanographic research activities such as:

-Integrated Ocean Monitoring Network in Korea;
-Study on Coastal Environment by Remote Sensing.

The trainees will have the occasion to work individually with instruments and equipment of R/V Onnuri, participating in a small groups of practice according to their own primary interests.

The course will be conducted in English by lecturers of different expertise under the leadership of Dr. Sang-Joon Han, vice-president of KORDI, assisted by Mr. Jae Ryoung Oh, principal lecturer of the course.

Climate

Seoul and its suburbs belong to the temperate zone featured by four distinctive seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The weather is similar to other temperate zone with four distinctive seasons such as that of the eastern U.S. The yearly average temperature of Seoul is 11.8oC. Temperatures in Seoul area tend to fluctuate a great deal, reaching as high as 38.4oC in the summer and dropping as low as -12.6oC in the winter. Most of the rainfall is concentrated in the rainy months (monsoon period) of June through September when downpours account for about 70% of the total annual precipitation. Except for those rainy spells, however, Seoul area boasts fine weather throughout the year and is especially famous for its azure autumn skies.

October is one of the most pleasant autumn months of the year. Cool temperature prevails during early mornings and evenings. Air temperature in the late October varies in general from about 5oC in the morning to about 20oC in the afternoon.

Qualification of Participants

Ocean scientists or engineers, less than 35 years old in good health, with at least a B.Sc. degree or an equivalent professional carrier, fluent in English, already involved in oceanographic and/or environmental programs in their country for more than three years and expected to work in the related field at least one more year after the training course, are eligible for the course. Women who are pregnant will not be accepted. Interested Member States and institutions are invited to submit applications of one or more suitable candidates using the attached standard form, by facsimile to:

Dr. Hong-Rhyong YOO Senior Assistant Secretary
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
UNESCO
1, rue Miollis
75732 Paris cedex 15, France
Fax:+33145685812
Tel:+33145683992
e-mail:hryoo@unesco.org

Deadline for submission of applications is Monday 13 September 1998. 

The final selection of the candidates will be made in consultation by the Executive Secretary IOC with the Secretary of the Korean International Cooperation Agency ( KOICA ) and the Chief Scientist of the course.

The number of trainees shall not exceed fifteen.

Each selected participant will receive a study grant which includes a return air-ticket, economy class, and a subsistence allowance for the duration of the course at a rate agreed upon by the sponsoring bodies. Participants will be requested to present a current report introducing their recent research activities.