The “Xiang Yang Hong 18” vessel is an unrestricted sea-going ship which is driven by electric propulsion, is available for dynamic positioning, is equipped with laboratories and survey facilities, and is applicable for oceanographic surveys on physical oceanography, atmospheric sciences, marine geology, physical geography, marine organism, ecology, remote sensing, remote measuring, coastal zone and oceanographic engineering, etc.
The main scientific objectives that can be reached by this vessel are as follows:
Marine dynamic process and disastrous marine observation; ocean circulation and climatic variation; marine geology and geophysical exploration; marine mineral resources, biological resources and gene resources development; marine ecosystem and carbon cycle research; marine environmental protection and sustainable development of marine economy; marine engineering exploration; on-site marine remote sensing information validation; sea trail and verification of high-tech marine R&D equipment.