A Double-Sided Trident: Dual-Use Environmental Data Underpins Subsea Defense
agencies, universities, and civilian research institutes, is also capable of generating environmental intelligence of direct relevance to PLAN operations. While survey operations are largely concentrated in the South China Sea and Western Pacific, China has been extending its reach with surveys of the Indian Ocean as well as the Arctic, where the U.S. Coast Guard routinely monitors vessels operating within the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS). Chinese oceanographic vessels often deploy numerous underwater gliders and profiling floats, providing a near real-time operating picture of the underwater environmen
UK Hydrographic Office Launches Digital Format for ADMIRALTY Sailing Directions
shipping routes including 27 of the world’s top 30 ports, with a particular focus on the primary trade corridor linking Northern Europe to East Asia. This includes continuous coverage from the UK and North Sea, through the Mediterranean and Suez Canal or via the Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean, and onward through Southeast Asia to China and Japan.This continually expanding coverage ensures mariners navigating the world’s busiest trade routes and major ports have access to authoritative, up-to-date information across the majority of their voyage. The remaining 38 volumes will be
China Mapping Ocean Floor Ready for Submarine Warfare
for waging submarine warfare against the United States and its allies.In one example, the Dong Fang Hong 3, a research vessel operated by Ocean University of China, spent 2024 and 2025 sailing back and forth in the seas near Taiwan and the U.S. stronghold of Guam, and around strategic stretches of the Indian Ocean, ship-tracking data reviewed by Reuters shows. In October 2024, it checked on a set of powerful Chinese ocean sensors capable of identifying undersea objects near Japan, according to Ocean University, and visited the same area again last May. And in March 2025, it criss-crossed the waters between
China Maps Ocean Floor as It Builds Submarine Warfare Capability
for waging submarine warfare against the United States and its allies.In one example, the Dong Fang Hong 3, a research vessel operated by Ocean University of China, spent 2024 and 2025 sailing back and forth in the seas near Taiwan and the U.S. stronghold of Guam, and around strategic stretches of the Indian Ocean, ship-tracking data reviewed by Reuters shows. In October 2024, it checked on a set of powerful Chinese ocean sensors capable of identifying undersea objects near Japan, according to Ocean University, and visited the same area again last May. And in March 2025, it criss-crossed the waters between
Climate Change: A Decade After the Paris Agreement
ocean heat a critical indicator of climate change. Regionally, WMO says about 33% of the global ocean area ranked among its historical (1958–2025) top three warmest conditions, while about 57% fell within the top five, including the tropical and South Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, North Indian Ocean, and Southern Oceans, underscoring the broad ocean warming across basins.(Reuters and staff
Robotics Essential to Coral Reef Preservation Efforts
resilience of mesophotic coral ecosystems – coral reef communities found at depths of between 30m and 150m in tropical regions – to the temperature shifts predicted under future climate change.Over the next five years, the project will focus on these deeper coral reef communities in the Indian Ocean and employ survey technologies for in-situ measurements of biodiversity, health and physical environmental parameters.Advances in subsea robotics are helping scientists better understand and monitor the processes occurring in coral reefs. However, conventional conservation methods struggle to
New Project to Assess Resilience of Mesophotic Coral Reefs
coral ecosystems – coral reef communities found at depths of between 30m and 150m in tropical regions – to the temperature shifts predicted under future climate change.Over the next five years, the project will focus on these deeper coral reef communities below the surface of the Indian Ocean and employ a number of methods to assess their vulnerability to climate change.In addition to assessing the threats they face, the project will also seek to inform ways the reefs can be protected now and in the future.The project starts in February 2026, and is being led by experts in marine biology
"No Find, No Fee" Search for MH370 to Commence
Nearly 12 years after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished with 239 people on board, the mystery remains unresolved. Later this month, a new seabed search is scheduled to begin in the southern Indian Ocean, renewing hopes that long-awaited answers may finally emerge.The Boeing 777 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The passengers included more than 150 Chinese nationals, around 50 Malaysians, and citizens from several other countries, including France, Australia, the United States, India, Canada and Ukraine. Despite one of the most extensive aviation
NOAA and Sofar Advance Weather Forecasting
AI to fine-tune model parameters.GFDL and Sofar’s experimental coupled model has already improved Sofar’s global marine weather forecast accuracy. For example, the model’s forecasts of wind speed are now outperforming other global forecast models in the South Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean tropics.By assimilating observations made by Sofar’s global network of Spotter buoys at the air-sea interface, GFDL and Sofar fill the observational gaps left by other data sources. Spotters, for example, deliver highly accurate wave and weather data amidst the heavy convection, rain, and
February 2026
