China builds buoy-backed observation system in western Pacific

China has built an observation network backed by submerged buoys in the west Pacific, a move essential to continuous maritime observation.

China's most sophisticated research vessel, Kexue, or "science," returned to the eastern port city of Qingdao on Sunday after wrapping up a 77-day expedition covering 11,000 nautical miles, during which it recovered 15 sets of deep-sea buoys in the west Pacific and retrieved more than 380 pieces of observation equipment, according to the Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Weighing 4,711 tonnes, Kexue is 99.8 meters long and 17.8 meters wide, with a cruising capacity of 15,000 nautical miles and a top speed of 15 knots.

Wang Fan, the voyage's chief scientist, said another 13 sets of submerged buoys and more than 350 pieces of observation equipment have been placed there.

"With the retrieved buoys, we have obtained valuable scientific statistics about ocean temperature, salinity and circulation for a year over the tropical West Pacific," Wang said, adding that the data will help scientists better understand the relationship between the ocean currents in the western Pacific and China's climate change.

Wang said the successful retrieval of the buoys is an indication that China "has built its own observation network for scientific research over the tropical West Pacific."

China completed large-scale installation of submerged buoys in the western Pacific ocean for the first time in Oct. 2014. Endi