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(ZHANG XUDONG) |
Crewmembers unfasten deep-sea manned submersible Jiaolong from an oceanographic vessel on December 23, 2014, before Jiaolong takes its first dive in the hydrothermal area of the southwest Indian Ocean.
Being the inaugural task of the submersible's Indian Ocean mission, the dive was aimed to test the condition of its parts after four months of maintenance. Its depth was between 2,700 meters and 3,000 meters.
Jiaolong will dive 20 times to research polymetallic sulfides, hydrothermal microbes and genetic resources in a four-month mission. Named after a mythical dragon, the submersible reached its deepest depth of 7,062 meters in the Pacific's Mariana Trench in June 2012.
