Scientific institutes from China and New Zealand concluded an 80-day joint manned deep-sea expedition to the Puysegur Trench on Friday, completing multiple dives and bringing back a wealth of valuable samples from the deep ocean.
The dive voyage, supported by the Global Trench Exploration and Diving program launched by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was co-organized by CAS's Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering (IDSSE) and New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).
The Puysegur Trench is located in the southern part of the Tasman Sea, just off the southwestern coast of New Zealand. It is a significant geological structure at the boundary of the Australian and Pacific plates, with the deepest point estimated to reach about 6,208 meters.
A total of 68 scientists from eight countries, including China, New Zealand, Malaysia, Denmark, Germany, France, Brazil, and India, joined the collaborative international expedition to the trench.
Despite challenging sea conditions, the team completed 32 dive missions, discovering a variety of new marine species and geological features, and collecting a range of valuable deep-sea biological samples.
"According to initial identification by biologists at the site, all the specimens collected are new discoveries, with at least half possibly being new species from the deep ocean. These new species will need further study by our taxonomists to confirm. We also found the deepest cold seep ecosystem in the Southern Hemisphere within the trench," said Du Mengran, chief scientist of the joint research expedition.
International scientists involved in this deep-sea expedition expressed their desire to collaborate more with China on ocean exploration, highlighting China's advancements in submersible technology and its leading role in the global community in this area. "We want to keep working with IDSSE in the future. There are lots of other areas in New Zealand and beyond that need to be explored, [like] other trenches and other types of habitats in the deep sea," said Daniel Leduc, a researcher at NIWA.
"China has been absolute leading in this technology to develop this submersible, to make this facility available to the community, the global community, I think, it's an astonishing and very admirable thing that has been done," said Ronnie Glud, a professor at the University of Southern Denmark.
China, New Zealand complete joint dive expedition to Puysegur Trench
