China has approved the construction of a deep-sea research facility in the South China Sea to support marine exploration.
The station is claimed to be one of the deepest and most technologically advanced underwater installations globally, with a target operational date of around 2030.
The design details of the station were disclosed by researcher Yin Jianping, from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with his colleagues, in an article published in the journal Manufacturing and Upgrading Today.
“Construction is set to begin shortly,” wrote Yin and his team, who also mentioned that the aim was for the station to collaborate closely with unmanned submersibles, surface vessels, and seabed observatories to establish a “four-dimensional” monitoring network.
To be built 2,000m below the surface in an area said to be rich with resources and subject to multiple territorial claims, the South China Morning Post reported that the research station will study cold seep ecosystems, which are methane-rich hydrothermal vents with unique lifeforms.
The facility will be designed to accommodate up to six scientists for missions lasting up to one month.
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By GlobalDataIt will feature advanced life-support systems to enable the establishment of a monitoring network for tracking methane fluxes, ecological changes, and tectonic movements.
The station is expected to be part of a larger infrastructure network, including a seabed fibreoptic network and the drilling ship Mengxiang, which has ambitions to be the first to reach the Earth’s mantle.
The power source for the station remains undisclosed, but experts have compared it to US and Soviet-era stations that used nuclear reactors.
The South China Sea is estimated to hold 70 billion tonnes of methane hydrates, which is approximately half of China’s proven oil and gas reserves.
The region also boasts rare mineral deposits such as cobalt and nickel, with concentrations three times higher than those found in land-based mines.
Additionally, more than 600 species adapted to extreme conditions have been identified in the area, some with enzymes that are seen as crucial for cancer treatments.
