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The China-New Zealand Joint Abyssal Diving Expedition said in Auckland, New Zealand, on November 27 that the first China-New Zealand Joint Abyssal Diving Expedition mission was successfully completed, and the scientific expedition personnel of the two countries reached the deepest point of the Kermadek Trench with the help of manned submersibles.
The Discovery-1 research ship carrying the Striver's all-sea deep-manned submersible set sail from Sanya, China, on October 6, and on October 31 from the port of Auckland to the Kermadek Trench, the deepest part of the southwest Pacific Ocean, at more than 10,000 meters, to carry out the first joint China-New Zealand abyssal diving expedition. On 25 November, the expedition vessel completed its first leg and returned to the port of Auckland.
According to Peng Xiaotong, the leader of this voyage of the Institute of Deep Sea of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in the first leg, the "Striver" dived 16 times, of which 14 operations exceeded 6,000 meters of water depth, covering different structural units in the subduction zone of the Kmadek Trench. The Strivers made five dives along the deepest part of the axis of the Kermadek Trench, two of which reached 10,000 meters.
This is the first large-scale and systematic manned deep diving survey in the Kermadek Trench area, and samples of abyssal macroorganisms, rocks and sediments have been collected, which provides important support for understanding the evolution and adaptation mechanism of life in the abyss, the evolution of the abyssal sedimentary environment, and the flux of plate subduction and material exchange.
The expedition team said that in the first leg, Deng Yuqing, a submariner from the Institute of Deep Sea of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Karin Schnabel, a researcher at the National Institute of Water Resources and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, became the first woman in human history to reach the deepest point of the Kermadek Trench.
At 18:00 local time on November 27, "Discovery One" set sail again to launch a new stage of joint scientific expedition.
(Look at the news Knews reporter: Ao Defang, Fu Ya, Wang Zebin, correspondent: Zhang Hanyu, Du Li)