In the middle and late June, the southwest Indian Ocean was clear and clear, and the sea breeze slowly. As the expedition team recovered the micro plastic sampler to the 'Xiangyanghong 10' ship deck, the Chinese Ocean 49 voyage fourth section of the scientific research operation was successfully closed. In more than 30 days, the expedition team started their work in a 24-hour shift, and the powerful underwater resource exploration equipment took turns to collect a large number of precious samples and important data.
'At present, our scientific research scope is continuously developing in depth, and the self-developed seabed exploration equipment has already occupied a dominant position. The Chinese Ocean Science Examination is contributing to China's wisdom for international seabed regional resource development activities and global ocean governance with a new attitude!' Ni Jianyu, the chief scientist of the fourth segment, is full of confidence.
At 9 am on June 15th, the Southwest Indian Ocean. The 'Xiangyanghong 10' ship's expedition team used the rear deck winch to slowly put the micro plastic sampler into the sea. After half an hour, the sampler was retracted and the sampling was successfully completed. After about 1 hour. Afterwards, the expedition team will wash out the retentate in the bottom tube of the sampler, put it into the sample bottle and add it to formalin for storage. After the 'Xiangyanghong 10' ship returns to China, these samples will be sent to Further analysis by the Marine Monitoring Center Laboratory.
'For the first time in the Indian Ocean, we are conducting research on marine environmental issues such as micro-plastic pollution, which is of international concern. This will help promote the integration of marine micro-plastics monitoring and marine environmental management into global marine environmental monitoring and international governance. Participate in important initiatives in global ocean governance. ' Ni Jianyu said.
Microplastics are a new contaminant in the marine environment and are known as 'PM2.5 in the ocean'. Because microplastics can adsorb persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals, and can be used by birds, fish and benthic animals. In order to feed on marine life, it has become a hotspot in international marine ecology and environmental science research. In 2016, China launched the monitoring of offshore micro-plastics, and subsequently expanded the scope to the ocean and polar regions. The launch of the 'Xiangyanghong 10' ship The plastic investigation operation will provide important data for Chinese scientists to understand the distribution of marine micro-plastics in the Southwest Indian Ocean and to assess the degree of micro-plastic pollution in the region.
Previously, the expedition team members of the first flight segment also deployed meteorological drift buoys and wave measuring buoys in the Indian Ocean. This is the first time that China has placed this type of buoys in the Indian Ocean. It is the environmental observation support for deep sea, sea and air interface in the Indian Ocean. The beginning of the commercialization of sea-air flux research.
Ni Jianyu said: 'As a responsible big country, China's oceanographic examinations are expanding, especially in closely tracking global hotspots and frontier issues in different sea areas. China has made a great contribution.'
In the southwestern Indian Ocean, there are such a group of 'miners' who are not picking gold, but 'babies' from the deep sea of several kilometers.
At 2 o'clock in the middle of the night on June 12, local time, with the outer swing of the 'Xiangyang Red 10' stern A-shaped frame, a huge yellow grab slowly moved to the sea outside the ship, and disappeared into the sea a few minutes later. It is the expedition team member of the fourth section of the China Ocean 49 voyage. The deep sea TV grab is being devolved in the multi-metal sulfide exploration contract area of the Southwest Indian Ocean in China.
About two hours later, the TV grab was close to the seabed with a depth of 3,850 meters. 'Stone, stone...' The chief assistant, sample manager Liang Jin began to whisper.
Grab only can see the bottom of the sea within 10 meters from the bottom. Before then, no one can be sure what is under the grab. 'The ideal point is the place where there are rocks and sediments, so we grab the sample. Will be more abundant. 'Liang Jin said.
As the grab continued to sink, the scene of the seabed slowly appeared in front of everyone. A grayish white, all the sediments on the seabed. Without seeing the stones, the players were somewhat disappointed.
'The bridge, please move 200 meters to the southeast.' Liang Jin immediately decided to change the location and then grab. After a few minutes, the 'Xiangyang Red 10' boat arrived at the new point, and the grab was slowly lowered again... The luck was good. There were a few stones under the grab. The head of the equipment, Xu Hang decisively controlled the grab to grab.
It’s a long wait of nearly two hours, and the grab is about to surface. However, it’s not easy to recycle the grab on the boat. A few tons of grabs are shaking on the deck as the boat shakes. 'Tighten the rope!' The head of the operation team, Qiu Lei, shouted. Several expedition members pulled the swaying rope tightly on both sides, and the swinging amplitude of the grab slowly descended. Finally, it stopped at the deck steadily. One meter above. As the grab slowly opens, a large piece of dark stone and a pile of grayish white 'sludge' fall on the deck. This seemingly unbelievable stone and seafloor sediment, for the section The test team is a 'priceless treasure'.
After the team members took pictures of the samples, the members of the biological group wore gloves, held a small white coral on the stone with a pair of tweezers, and then carefully placed them in the sample bag. 'The stones often have corals, sponges, sea lilies attached. And other creatures, my task is to collect them for subsequent benthic biodiversity analysis.'
After the biological group has been picked, the rest is the geological group. The scientific team members of the geological group successively numbered the rock and sediment samples, sealed the bags, and then checked the grabs and cleaned the deck...
At 9 o'clock the next morning, Liang Jin, who was already busy all night, came to the laboratory again to study the sample of the grab. He and the members of the geological team on duty dried the sediment and then sieved, and finally the rest was one. Pile of dry gray-white powder. Liang Jin said: 'These sediment samples can help us investigate the basic geological information of the seabed in this sea area, understand the geological background and metallogenic conditions.'
Through the crew, the operation team and the professional team members work closely together. In just a few dozen days, the expedition members of the Chinese Ocean 49 voyage have completed more than 80 trips, and obtained a large number of rocks, sediments, biological samples. 2. Two of them directly caught precious sulphide ore.
In the depths of the boundless ocean, in the deep seabed of several kilometers, the deep-sea equipment is the sea-searching weapon in the hands of the expedition members. For example, the deep sea TV grab used by the 'Xiangyanghong 10' shipboard testers, the mouth is 1.5 meters. It is nearly two tons in weight. It can be lowered to the bottom of the sea with a depth of 6,000 meters by using the ship's cable. The camera can let the expedition team members observe the seabed conditions on the ship's laboratory, and then control the opening and closing of the grab through the monitoring system. Take the surface material of the sea floor.
On the back deck of the 'Xiangyanghong 10' ship, several different types of equipment were fixed here to prevent collision. Among them, a white instrument like a spaceship is particularly eye-catching, it is our country. The self-developed single-towing body transient electromagnetic instrument. The scientific research team member said that the transient electromagnetic instrument can detect the difference between the submarine polymetallic sulfide and the surrounding surrounding rock electrical and magnetic properties. According to the detection data of the transient electromagnetic instrument, It can be roughly inferred that the distribution of polymetallic sulphides in the seabed is horizontal and vertical, and it is one of the important equipments for the exploration of polymetallic sulphide resources.
'The transient electromagnetic instrument that was just developed is a double towed body. After 3 iterations, it becomes a single-towing body transient electromagnetic instrument.' Deng Xianming, senior engineer of the Second Institute of Oceanography of the State Oceanic Administration said.
Deng Xianming said that in addition to the transient electromagnetic instrument, the 'Xiangyang Red 10' ship plays an important role in underwater unmanned cableless submersibles, TV multi-tube sampler, medium-deep core core sampling rig and other major scientific research. Sharp weapon, 'The demand for deep-sea science is driving the continuous improvement of deep-sea exploration equipment. Deep-sea equipment further helps us to go deeper into the ocean and continuously improve the level of deep-sea scientific research.'