Ocean Researcher V, the largest ocean research vessel designed and built in Taiwan, was officially handed over to the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) yesterday.
The 2,700 tonne ocean research vessel, measuring 72.6m in length and 15.4m in width, has a boarding capacity of 18 crew members and 30 scientists and is now docked at Greater Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor.
The vessel was funded by the National Science Council (NSC), which commissioned the task to the NARL’s Taiwan Ocean Research Institute (TORI).
Photo: CNA
TORI’s Deep Ocean Exploration Division manager and associate researcher Yang Yih (楊益) said the Ocean Researcher V differs from the three existing ocean research vessels because of its expanded tonnage, which gives it enough resistance to cope with strong waves caused by the northeast monsoons in the winters and allows it to gather research data that in the past was difficult to collect.
Moreover, the vessel’s maximum endurance is expanded to 50 days and a maximum range of 13,000 nautical miles (24,076km) for each single expedition, Yang said, adding that its core mission is not limited to fundamental ocean science research and that it can also perform the government’s ocean energy exploration assignments.
TORI’s Nearshore Observation and Modeling Division and Marine Exploration Technology Division manager and researcher Yang Wen-Chang (楊文昌) said the vessel is scheduled to make research expeditions for a total 250 days a year. Of these 250 days, 100 days would be allotted to academic science research projects funded by the NSC, while the remaining 150 days would go to the NARL’s research projects, governmental assignments or business sector research trips.
TORI director-general Kao Chia-chuen (高家俊) said the two special features of the Ocean Researcher V are its propelling force — which relies on electricity, allowing it to move slowly yet quietly, traits necessary for conducting precise detection operations — and its dynamic positioning system — which allows it to remain steadily at a single spot at sea, undisturbed by strong winds or waves.
In addition to its observational capabilities, such as high-resolution imaging of the sea bed, the vessel can also collect samples deep under the sea’s surface with the use of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which can go as deep as 3,000m, Yang Yih said, adding the ROV is planned to be used in research projects exploring sea-floor gas hydrate near southern Taiwan.
Lu Pei-ling (呂佩玲), deputy director of the Central Weather Bureau’s seismology center, said TORI has also agreed to use the new vessel to assist the bureau with the maintenance of submarine cables off the coast of eastern Taiwan, which would improve the precision of earthquake forecasts in Taiwan.
At present, NT$1.82 billion (US$61 million) has been spent on the vessel, while an additional NT$600 million to NT$700 million is to be spent on the acquisition of more research equipment, Kao said.
The vessel is scheduled to embark on its first expedition in January next year, while adjustments to the existing equipment, purchase of new equipment, as well as further training for the crew members, would continue in the coming months, he added.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching