EXPLORING QUATERNARY VARIABILITY OF THE EAST-ASIA MONSOON, KUROSHIO CURRENT, AND WESTERN PACIFIC WARM POOL SYSTEMS - HIGH-RESOLUTION INVESTIGATIONS OF PALEOCEANOGRAPHY FROM THE IMAGES III (MD106) IPHIS CRUISE

We present the highlights of the 1996-1998 Taiwan IMAGES program, desc ribing the objectives and some of the preliminary results from the thi rd cruise in the western Pacific and the South China Sea (IMAGES III/M D106-IPHIS Cruise). This cruise was successfully completed in June, 19 97, with the cooperation of scientists from six countries. Specificall y, we introduce the primary goals of the studies conducted in the Sout h China Sea, which were mainly proposed and designed by scientists fro m Taiwan to further enhance our understanding of Quaternary variabilit y in the East Asia monsoon, the Kuroshio Current, and the western Paci fic warm pool systems, We also briefly describe the cores obtained fro m the South China Sea during this cruise and the preliminary scientifi c results drawn from shipboard measurements of the cores.