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Emiliano Martínez Viademonte

China and Chile are set to launch a three‑month expedition into the uncharted depths of the eastern Pacific Ocean – a “historic opportunity” to seek new forms of life and geological insights into the causes of earthquakes and tsunamis.
Setting off aboard the Chinese research vessel Tan Suo Yi Hao on Monday, the researchers will cover 700km (435 miles) around the Atacama Trench, one of the deepest and least explored regions of the eastern Pacific.
The expedition, three years in the making, is being led by the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IDO) of the University of Concepcion, Chile.
The Tan Suo Yi Hao will depart from the Chilean port city of Valparaiso for what the expedition committee has described as “the largest [such operation] in the area carried out to date”.
The collaboration began with “an alliance formed years before which allows Chilean scientists to use tools that no other country currently possesses, accelerating years of research in only one mission”, the university said in a statement on January 9.


The expedition will involve 33 research stations and nearly 20 submersible dives to probe the depths of the trench. The mission is seen as key to understanding subduction processes along the Pacific seismic belt – with direct implications for China, Japan, the Koreas and Southeast Asia.
The researchers will also deploy the Fendouzhe, or Striver, one of the world’s most advanced manned submersibles and capable of reaching depths of over 10,000 metres (32,800 feet), according to a university technical report.
“We are moving from studying the ocean with sensors and remotely operated systems to being physically present there, [around] 8,081 metres down, measuring, collecting samples and observing everything with our own eyes,” Osvaldo Ulloa, expedition co-chief and IDO director, was quoted as saying in the statement.
“This is a historic opportunity to discover and study the marine depth ecosystems. While humanity looks for life on other planets, it is also fundamental to explore the secrets of our own marine world, rich in biodiversity and full of mysteries to discover.”

Unfolding during the southern summer, the voyage will target sites off the northern Chilean coast – from Caldera and Chanaral in the Atacama Region through Taltal and up to Iquique near the Peru border.
The Atacama Trench, also known as the Peru-Chile Trench, lies about 160km off the coasts of Peru and Chile. Stretching for about 6,000km, it spans an area of roughly 590,000 sq km (228,000 square miles).
Along the trench, which averages 64km wide, the Nazca and South American plates converge to form one of Earth’s most seismically active subduction zones. This powerful interaction drives frequent earthquakes and intense seismic activity.
The expedition is being led by Du Mengran, a researcher and professor at the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering in Sanya, China. She said the challenge of studying oceanography and hadal trenches – the ocean’s deepest realms – required the joint efforts of people from different backgrounds.
“We are drawing a new map of the ocean world,” Du, who appeared on the 2025 “Nature’s 10” list for pioneering deep-sea exploration, said last October during one of the preparation meetings, according to the Chilean university website.
In 2018, an IDO research team reached around 8,000 metres deep with an unmanned autonomous vehicle. Then, in 2022, they carried out two manned dives.
“It is of enormous magnitude in comparison with the other two immersions,” Mauricio Urbina, a co-chief scientist of the latest mission and a professor of comparative animal physiology at the University of Concepcion, said last year of the coming expedition.
The team expects to find new molecules potentially applicable to biomedicine, apart from seeking to understand the mechanics of earthquakes and tsunamis that affect the Pacific.
The mission will look for hadal chemosynthetic molecules – which allow life to exist at sunless depths, providing a source of energy and carbon – “whose eventual confirmation will allow us to demonstrate they are unique, independent of the sunlight and they are widely distributed across the planet’s trenches representing a potential discovery of worldwide interest”, according to the university.
“We have strong hypotheses believing there are unknown organisms on the trench walls. Furthermore, we want to confirm that the Atacama Trench acts as a ‘garbage dump’ or ‘recycler’ of carbon from the ocean,” the university said.


Achieving these objectives demands hi-tech devices such as landers, or autonomous robots, to measure physical variables; and deep-ocean CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) sensors able to measure the physical and chemical characteristics of water. The measurements will include temperature, salinity and pH, to be transmitted in real time to the mother ship via cable.
The submersible Striver has room for three crew members: one pilot and two scientists. It is equipped with robotic arms, sample baskets and high-resolution cameras.
It was part of the 2024 Kuril Trench expedition near the Kamchatka Peninsula by Chinese researchers, when it descended more than 9,500 metres. The mission revealed the presence of thriving ecosystems of ancestral bivalve molluscs and marine worms, among other organisms, at depths where daylight does not reach.
“We hope to find similar chemosynthetic communities in the Atacama Trench expedition,” Du said last year.
The Tan Suo Yi Hao is one of the three CAS ships fitted out for marine scientific missions, capable of accommodating 25 crew members and 35 researchers. It is equipped with a deep-sea operation winch, sounding equipment, a sediment collection device, a seismic air compressor, and auxiliary machinery such as a portal frame and crane, enabling it to conduct deep-sea scientific investigations and tests.
In 2016, the vessel joined the Mariana Trench expedition – the first Chinese mission to reach the abyss’ deepest point at 10,000 metres. The team set another national record in 2020 with a crewed dive using the Striver submersible.
The January to March mission will also include the Catholic University of Chile, the Austral University of Chile, the University of Valparaiso and Sernageomin, Chile’s national geologic and mining service.
The expedition is backed by the Global Hadal Exploration Programme – a 10-year effort led by the deep-sea institute and endorsed by the UN. It spans 16 countries and was launched last July.


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China, Chile to explore Atacama Trench in Pacific with ‘tools no other country possesses’

The team will sail aboard the Chinese research vessel Tan Suo Yi Hao to cover 700km around the Atacama Trench, one of the deepest and least explored regions of the eastern Pacific. Photo: Handout

The Fendouzhe, or Striver, is one of the world’s most advanced manned submersibles, capable of reaching depths of over 10,000 metres. Photo: Handout

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Creatures in the deep, dark ocean have evolved diverse strategies to survive, adapting to varying depths and nutrient availability, according to a team from the University of Western Australia and Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology. Photo: Handout

Deep sea animals in the Pacific Ring of Fire off Japan are rapidly growing and adapting, scientists observed in crewed submersible dives. Photo: Handout

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China

Three-month expedition will plumb uncharted depths of eastern Pacific in quest for new life forms and insights into quakes and tsunamis


Three-month expedition will plumb uncharted depths of eastern Pacific in quest for new life forms and insights into quakes and tsunamis.


China-Latin America relations

Chile

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

China, Chile to explore Atacama Trench in Pacific with ‘tools no other country possesses’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Three-month expedition will plumb uncharted depths of eastern Pacific in quest for new life forms and insights into quakes and tsunamis

Three-month expedition will plumb uncharted depths of eastern Pacific in quest for new life forms and insights into quakes and tsunamis