One of the most sophisticated of these facilities is Legend, Taiwan’s largest and most advanced research vessel. It expands ocean knowledge and informs government policymaking as the base for researchers conducting marine science and ocean observation.
The 2,629-metric ton Legend is outfitted with high-performance equipment. This includes a remotely operated vehicle with a maximum working depth of 3,000 meters to collect data and samples, a long-offset multichannel seismic system to gather tectonic information, data buoys to track atmospheric and oceanographic conditions and piston corers to extract sediment samples.
TORI Director General Wang Chau-chang said that Legend provided a base for scientists researching topics such as climate change, energy exploration and geological hazards and was opening a new chapter in Taiwan’s marine scientific research.
Since its launch in 2018, Legend has provided services not only for domestic projects but also for international cooperative programs, such as the Pacific Array program which deployed ocean bottom seismometers and ocean bottom electro-magnetometers to the floor of the Western Pacific for yearlong monitoring.
On the same voyage, researchers utilized a multibeam echosounder to map the seabed at depths of up to 10,860 meters, setting a new record for the country’s deep-sea exploration as they passed over the Mariana Trench—the deepest section of ocean on Earth with a maximum known depth of nearly 11,000 meters.
Weather balloons carrying radiosondes have also been released from the vessel to collect information on atmospheric pressure, humidity, temperature and wind speed. Data collected from such missions is fundamental to understanding plate tectonics and the evolution of the planet.
Kuo Ban-yuan, leader of the Pacific Array team that crews Legend said each expedition gave rise to exciting discoveries combined with challenges like adverse weather and tight schedules. Kuo is a researcher specializing in geophysics at Taipei City-based Academia Sinica’s Institute of Earth Sciences.
The PA project is a cooperative venture between Academia Sinica, TORI and Japan’s University of Tokyo. It has brought together 15 atmospheric and earth scientists from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
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(This article is adapted from Into the Deep in the January/February Issue 2023 of Taiwan Review. The Taiwan Review archives dating to 1951 are available online.)