On January 6, 2019, researchers from the First Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources (FIO, MNR) successfully obtained the data from an in-situ measurement of sediment acoustic properties at a water depth of over 5,000 m in the Western Pacific Ocean, using a Ballast In-situ Sediment Acoustic-property Measurement System (BISAMS), a self-developed system that can be deployed in up to 6,000m water depth. This is another breakthrough of China in studying the techniques for in-situ measurements of seabed acoustic properties in deep water since the successful in-situ sediment acoustic measurement at a water depth of 3,000 m using a Hydraulic-driven In-situ Sediment Acoustic-property Measurement System (HISAMS) in June 2017. Related techniques and equipment will play an important role in seabed environmental monitoring, seabed resources investigation, and marine rights and interests protection.

FIO, MNR has successfully developed a series of equipment for in-situ sediment acoustic measurements, including BISAMS and HISAMS which are ones of the few instruments in the world that can be used to measure the sediment acoustic properties in situ in deep water. In December 2018, the vessel Xiangyanghong 01 borne with BISAMS moved forward to the western Pacific Ocean for an investigation. From the afternoon of January 5 to the early morning of January 6, 2019, sediment acoustic property data were obtained from four sites at water depths of 5,353 m, 5,384 m, 5,511 m and 5,522 m, respectively. The sediment sampler mounted on BISAMS simultaneously collected sediment core samples from the above sites.