China places seismometers in Indian Ocean

China recently placed multiple ocean seismometers in the Indian Ocean where no ocean-bottom seismographic observation was available in the Junhui hydrothermal field, a specialist said.


China's 49th ocean expedition team on Sunday successfully placed ten ocean-bottom seismometers in the southwest Indian Ocean, with five more planned. Fifteen ocean-bottom seismometers will be retrieved in the coming year, according to the Science and Technology Daily on Monday.

Ocean-bottom seismometers can operate for extended periods of time on the seafloor to gather data from earthquakes and artificial vibrations in the deep sea.

The lifespan of a seismometer is from several months to a year, before being retrieved for further research.

This is the first time China has placed seismometers in the southwest Indian Ocean's Junhui hydrothermal field, according to Qiu Lei, the head of the team's earth physics department, the newspaper reported.
   (chinamedia)
 30/5/18