OSIL’s Giant Piston Corer System in the South China Sea

OSIL have successfully completed sea acceptance tests aboard the MV Xue Long 2 on an OSIL 22m Giant Piston Corer system in the South China Sea, proving the system with excellent sample recovery rates and ease of handling. The system was installed and operated over a 10 day period with 2 OSIL engineers on board to provide training to local scientists.

The 22m system is installed into and deployed using a MacGregor Triplex handling system. The corer was successfully deployed in deep water collecting over 85% sample recovery on its first deployment. With further system tuning scientists are looking towards 95% plus recovery rates which are possible using the OSIL corer. The unique piston design provides a more complete, longer and less disturbed sample than traditional gravity coring systems.

The Giant Piston Corer will be used by the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) for marine sediment studies. The system is modular and easily assembled for rapid deployment in all conditions. Due to its modular nature systems up to 60m in length are available from OSIL for use in soft sediments.