China’s new marine buoy says goodbye to classic Western design used since World War II

A giant orange disc recently settled into the waters off eastern China’s Shandong province, marking the deployment of what Chinese researchers describe as a first-of-its-kind intelligent ocean-observation buoy. It abandons a mooring architecture that has dominated Western marine engineering since World War II. Measuring six metres (19.7 feet) across, the platform has completed sea trials and officially joined the Yellow Sea observation network, enabling continuous, real-time monitoring across...