The research vessel “Kexue” has embarked its expedition in the Western Pacific since 26th November, 2017. Chinese scientists announced recently that they had upgraded 8 sets of subsurface moorings to achieve “live transmission” of deep-sea data over the upper 1000 meters depth, and had realized real-time transmission of temperature, salinity, and three-dimensional velocity in 3000 meters depth, a new record.
Last year, they set out to overcome well-known difficulties in the long-term transmission of real-time data from subsurface moorings, and succeeded in achieving real-time transmission of deep-sea data from one mooring for more than 280 days in a row, according to Fan Wang, director of the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). “Based on the previous work, real-time transmission of deep water data is being expanded towards the majority of the subsurface moorings in the CAS scientific observing network, and the depth range of real-time deep-sea data has been extended from 1000 to 3000 meters depth in this year,” Wang said, adding that the data could enhance capacity for exploring the deep ocean mysteries, and also accelerating the establishment of marine climate forecast and disaster prevention and reduction system for China.
The construction of the real-time Scientific Observing Network in the Western Pacific has been supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program and Equipment Development Project of CAS, as well as the Aoshan Science and Technology Innovation Plan and Wenhai Plan of Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology.
"Kexue" will return to Qingdao in February 2018 after completing the scientific tasks for maintenance and upgrade of the observation network.
Figure: Time series of real-time deep water (approximately 3147 meters depth) temperature, salinity, and current speed in the Western Pacific.