Research conducted last year by the Japanese research ship Chikyu has set a Guinness World Record for the deepest ocean drilling by a scientific vessel, the ship's owner said Wednesday.
The Chikyu's drilling equipment started from a depth of 6,897.5 meters underwater and bore 980 meters into the seabed, meaning its drilling pipe was 7,906 meters long.
The research was conducted in September of last year along the Japan Trench off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture to understand the mechanism behind the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011.
The Chikyu is owned by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and operated by Mantle Quest Japan.
"We are very happy, thinking this as proof that our technology was recognized," Hiroyuki Yamato, the agency's president, said at a certificate ceremony in Tokyo.
"This is a very valuable record, as this means that our drilling and operation techniques were globally renowned," Mantle Quest President Hiroyasu Ishiguro said.
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