Japanese Deep Sea Drilling Recognized by Guinness World Records

Tokyo, Sept. 24 (Jiji Press)–Deep sea drilling research conducted last year by the Japanese vessel Chikyu has been recognized as the world’s deepest scientific ocean drilling by the Guinness World Records, the vessel’s owner said Wednesday. The 980 meters of drilling by the Chikyu started from 6,897.5 meters under the sea, making its drilling pipe 7,906 meters long. The drilling research was conducted in September last year along the Japan Trench off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, to unravel the mechanism of a massive earthquake that struck in March 2011. The Chikyu is owned by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or JAMSTEC, and operated by Mantle Quest Japan Co. “We are very happy, thinking this as proof that our technology was recognized,” JAMSTEC President Hiroyuki Yamato 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. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]