Taiwan is located on a part of the Pacific Rim that frequently encounters seismic activity. For the long-term monitoring of seismic activities, the OBS project has been jointly led by the Taiwan Ocean Research Institute (TORI) of National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs), Academic Sinica, and National Sun Yat-sen University since 2008, which has passed a series of tests and have been deployed in Taiwan offshore. Further, the project went international in 2011. TORI cooperated with the Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) that four OBSs were successful deployed in the nearshore area off the Korean Peninsula to research the potential threat of offshore earthquakes.
For assessing the extent of the hazards and potential risks triggered by earthquakes in South Korea, Pusan National University (PNU) signed a cooperation agreement with TORI in 2016 and several self-designed OBSs from Taiwan were deployed offshore the nuclear power stations in Korea. After half a year of effort, the Taiwan self-designed OBSs won the praise from PNU team for the comprehensive measurement ability. PNU is considering purchasing these instruments, which are weigh less (200 kg) than comparable foreign-made instruments that can both decrease energy consumption and increase capacity of the batteries.
In cooperated with South Korea, TORI expects to more accurately measure the speed of seismic waves and better identify the epicenter of earthquakes that the Taiwan self-designed OBSs would help to reduce the risks of underwater projects. Moreover, with the Taiwan's self-designed OBSs, TORI promotes an example of successful partnerships between Taiwan and international community, to install and operate facilities for Earth observations, monitoring, and research that enables Taiwan's researchers to bring OBS related technologies to scientists worldwide.