The Nansha Taiping Island International Research Station has commenced operations, and the National Academy of Marine Research aims to invite international researchers to the facility on Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the diputed South China Sea, a source said on Thursday.
Former academy president Chiu Yung-fang (邱永芳) called the establishment of the facility, which was proposed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), a “major national task.”
Tsai in a speech in 2016 said Taiwan would strive to work with countries in the region on scientific pursuits, including research related to earthquake and tsunami monitoring, climate change and ocean acidification.
Photo courtesy of a reader
She also reiterated Taiwan’s claims in the South China Sea.
A panel of researchers concluded that the best way for the government to proceed on scientific cooperation was through the establishment of the academy, which was founded on April 24, 2019, the source said.
The academy began building the station following “environmental investigation and research” efforts, the source said, adding that the station was completed in November last year, but its opening was delayed until last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Itu Aba is the largest of the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島). It is administered as part of Jhongsing Borough (中興) in Kaohsiung’s Cijin District (旗津).
The island also hosts a Coast Guard Administration facility and the Nansha Hospital, the source said.
The academy has been conducting research around the island including high-resolution numerical modeling of the ocean, and deployment of marine meteorological buoys and collection stations for environmental DNA data, the source said.
It has surveyed the local marine life including coral, fish, turtles and small invertebrates, they added.
Researchers at the site have shared their findings with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) via partners at the Japan Meteorological Agency, the station’s Web site says.
They have also tested marine observation drones, launching them from the Dongsha Atoll Research Station on the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), and conducted geoscience and meteorological research, it says.
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