Deep Sea Exploration | Aohai team develops and recovers China's first in situ sediment colonization system

Jun 02, 2016

​Members of the Aohai team retrieve a deep-sea sediment microbial in situ culture system on the aft deck of the research vessel "Xiangyang Hong 10" on May 22, 2016. On the same day, the research team members on board the research vessel "Xiangyang Hong 10", which was on the fourth leg of the 40th voyage of oceanographic research in the southwest Indian Ocean, successfully recovered the 450 kg deep-sea sediment microbial in-situ culture system that had been working on the seabed for 117 days in the working area.The system can be deployed to carry out microbial in-situ culture experiments at the interface of deep-sea seawater and sediment, and after the experiments are completed, the samples can be recovered without pollution through hydroacoustic remote control. Shao Zongze, a researcher from the Third Institute of Oceanography of the State Oceanic Administration, introduced that this is the first in-situ culture system for deep-sea sediment microorganisms developed independently in China, and the successful recovery will provide a new platform for further functional research on deep-sea microorganisms in the future.