TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A total of eight survey buoys with the image of Taiwan’s national flag have been deployed on a journey to the Arctic Ocean as part of an oceanic research project between Taiwan and Poland.

The buoys, 60 centimeters in diameter each, have been placed in the waters near the West Spitsbergen Current, 50 kilometers to the west of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. They are expected to be carried all the way north to the Arctic Ocean by the current, according to the College of Earth Sciences at the National Central University (NCU) in Taoyuan.

The devices are tasked with collecting and transmitting real-time data at the Fram Strait, the passage between Greenland and Svalbard, which serve to advance the study of the Arctic currents, sea surface temperature, and how waves are affecting the floating sea ice, reported UDN.

The project is being carried out in collaboration with Taiwan's National Academy of Marine Research and Poland’s Nicolaus Copernicus University.

The work allows for better drafting of ocean policies and the development of the blue economy in the Arctic. Information about the Arctic maritime routes’ environment also provides strategic and commercial values for a country boasting a robust shipping industry, said Chien Hwa (錢樺), associate professor at the Graduate Institute of Hydrological and Oceanic Sciences of NCU.

Survey buoy developed by National Central University. (Facebook, CESNCU photo)