Vessel researches seamount
The remote-operated vehicle Discovery is about to be released into the Pacific Ocean yesterday to collect videos, information and samples from a small seamount in the south of the Mariana Trench.
China's research vessel Kexue yesterday started to explore a series of seamounts in the south of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place of the Earth.
The remote-operated vehicle Discovery dived into the sea yesterday morning to collect videos, information and samples from a small seamount in the southwest of the targeted area.
Scientists planed to investigate four seamounts in this area, part of the Caroline Ridge in the western Pacific Ocean, and the largest one is the Caroline Seamount, which Kexue explored in 2017, said Xu Kuidong, chief scientist aboard the vessel and a researcher of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The other three seamounts have never been explored and their tops are all about 800 meters below the sea surface, Xu said.
“We will focus on biological diversities, ecological systems and biological distributions of the four seamounts, trying to find out the differences and the driving factors,” Xu said.
Kexue, which departed from Qingdao in east China on May 18, will carry out research for 20 days and is then scheduled to return to Xiamen in southeast China’s Fujian Province on June 23.
