Chinese submersible Jiaolong completes second dive in South China Sea

Jiaolong, China's manned submersible, conducted its second dive Thursday in the South China Sea.

Departing its mother ship Xiangyanghong 09 at 7:10 a.m., Jiaolong stayed underwater for nine hours and thirteen minutes, and returned at 4:23 p.m.

Jiaolong managed to bring 4.5 kilograms of nodule samples, 7 kilograms of encrustation samples, 8 liters of sea water samples collected near the seabed, eight sediment samples and nine basalt samples from the sea.

"Thursday's dive gave us some clues of the layout of the nodules and encrustation in South China Sea which is very important for China's future research in the region," said Yang Yaomin, chief scientist for the second stage expedition.

Spending six hours and thirty-five minutes on the seabed, the maximum depth of the Jiaolong's work on Thursday was 2,035 meters below sea level.

It was Jiaolong's second dive in the second stage of China's 38th ocean scientific expedition, which will last until May 13.

Jiaolong finished its first South China Sea mission on Wednesday.

The 38th oceanic scientific expedition started on Feb. 6. Jiaolong completed a dive in the northwestern Indian Ocean earlier this year in the mission's first stage. It will also conduct surveys in the Yap Trench and the Mariana Trench in the third stage.

Named after a mythical dragon, Jiaolong reached its deepest depth of 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in June 2012. Endi