China is expected to launch a constellation of oceanic satellites to form its own stereoscopic observation system by 2010 to monitor the ocean's environment, government officials said Thursday.

Developing these oceanic satellites is a strategic task for China to monitor its waters, said Wang Shuguang, director of State Oceanic Administration (SOA).

Following the successful launch of the HY-1 (HY are the initials for the Chinese word for ocean), the first in the series of satellites to monitor the ocean's color in mid-May, China plans to place another remote sensing satellite into space in 2004, said Lin Mingshen, deputy chief designer of the satellite's ground application system.

The HY-1, launched on May 15, is the country's first-ever oceanic satellite. On Wednesday, it sent back the first batch of ocean pictures to Earth.

The 360-kilogram satellite, which costs 200 million yuan (US$24 million) to manufacture, will be ready for use by the SOA in a few months, Lin said.

The launch of the HY-1 will soon end the country's reliance on foreign satellites for information on the ocean's colour, said Wu Jinyou, an SOA official.

Compared with foreign satellites used by China, including satellites made in the United States and Europe, HY-1's fairly complete spectral coverage and co-existence of visible light and infrared remote sensing enables it to obtain more precise data about the color and temperature of the ocean's surface, said chief designer Zhang Yongwei.

Apart from ocean color monitoring satellites, China also plans to send a series of satellites to monitor the dynamic environment of oceans around 2005, and several satellites focusing on the comprehensive oceanic environment are scheduled for 2010, he said.

The oceanic satellites, along with helicopters, ships, marine buoys and coastal stations, will create a stereoscopic ocean monitoring network, Wang said.

Among their many functions, the satellites will monitor pollution, particularly contamination caused by oil spills, to aid in mitigating disasters, Lin said.

China has suffered increasing losses due to marine disasters in recent years, SOA sources said.

Last year alone, China registered 77 red tides, and 401 people were either killed or missing in marine accidents, according to Chinese newspaper reports.

China outlined its goals for earth observation in a policy paper in 2000. The paper said China plans to bring together current meteorological satellites, resource satellites, oceanic satellites and disaster monitoring satellites into an earth observation system for long-term use. The system will conduct stereoscopic observation and monitoring of the country and the whole world's land, atmosphere, and oceanic environment.

(China Daily June 7, 2002)