Survey operations by vessel SW Thuridur towing ten eight-meter cables in the South China Sea near the Philippines began May 8 and continue until further notice.
South China Sea · HYDROPAC 1525/24
What this record establishes
Cancelled notice · 2026-08-14 18:10Z
This notice disappeared from the issuing source's in-force list. No explicit recovery or all-clear is established by that removal.
- Source and dates
- NGA MSI broadcast-warn JSON (archive, frozen 2024-05) · NAVAREA XI 222/24 071140Z MAY 24.. Issued 2024-05-07 12:06Z. First collected 2026-08-17 13:41Z; last seen in collection 2026-08-17 15:50Z. Collection dates record ingestion, not a new incident or a fresh field observation.
- Location covered
- South China Sea. The map shows an area described by the warning; the listed coordinate is its representative center. Check the original wording for limits and qualifications.
Current notices and reporting history in the South China Sea →
- issued
- 2024-05-07 12:06Z
- status
- Cancelled notice
- authority
- NAVAREA XI 222/24 071140Z MAY 24.
- NAVAREA
- NAVAREA XI · named as the source of this relay
- sea
- South China Sea
- position
- 12.593, 119.317
- vessel
- M/V SW THURIDUR · 18 messages
- source
- NGA MSI broadcast-warn JSON (archive, frozen 2024-05) · first seen 2026-08-17 13:41Z
Original warning text
SOUTH CHINA SEA. PHILIPPINES. DNC 11. SURVEY OPERATIONS 080001Z MAY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE BY M/V SW THURIDUR TOWING TEN EIGHT METER LONG CABLES IN AREA BOUND BY 13-10.88N 119-11.42E, 13-11.88N 119-37.60E, 12-00.56N 119-26.66E, 11-58.94N 119-00.52E. WIDE BERTH REQUESTED.
Reading this warning
- DNC (Digital Nautical Chart)
- A reference to one of the regions of NGA's Digital Nautical Chart, used to tell the reader which charts a warning affects.
- Survey operations
- A research or survey vessel is mapping the seabed or water column, often while towing equipment.
- Date-time group (DTG)
- A compact UTC timestamp — day, hour and minute followed by Z — such as 201500Z for the 20th at 15:00 UTC.
- Until further notice
- The operation or danger has no scheduled end; the warning stays in force until a later message cancels it.
- Towed array / streamer
- Equipment towed a long way behind a vessel — sonar, a hydrophone cable, a sampling sled — invisible at the surface.
- Tow / towing
- A vessel towing another vessel, a barge or a structure — slow, hard to manoeuvre, and with a long line between.
- Area bound by
- Introduces a list of positions that are the corners of an area — the polygon the warning applies to.
- Position (degrees and minutes)
- How warnings write positions: degrees, a hyphen, then minutes, with N/S and E/W — 49-40.8N 003-43.8W.
- Wide berth requested
- Keep well clear — or, when a distance is given ("TWO MILE BERTH REQUESTED"), at least that far away.
Collected reports in this area · survey operations
7 within 180 nm since 2008 · 0 in the last 12 months · 0 listed in force now
Counts include repeat notices about the same situation. NGA archive coverage ends 2024-05; live collection began 2026-08-17. The period between them is incomplete. An empty year is not evidence that no hazards occurred.
- Survey operations in progress until further notice by M/V sw thuridur towing 12, 8000 meter long cables in…2024-03-25
- Underwater operations 02 thru 13 feb by M/V skandi hawk in area bound by 11-37.7N 118-56.4E, 11-37.9N…2020-02-01
- Survey operations 15 feb thru 29 mar by M/V skandi hawk in vicinity of trackline joining 11-38.5N 118-54.3E,…2019-02-14
- Underwater operations in progress until 28 nov by M/V skandi hawk with submersible vicinity 11-38.5N 118-54.3E2013-10-21
- Underwater operations in progress until 24 jul by M/V dsv rem etive vicinity 11-38-32N 118-58-22E2012-07-20
- Oceanographic survey 01 thru 04 aug by M/V baruna jaya 1 in area bound by 12-39-03.9N 119-54-54.5E,…2008-07-27
Month of issue in the collected archive
All available years combined. Uneven collection and repeat bulletins affect these counts; this chart does not measure the seasonality or probability of incidents.
Nearby notices listed in force · within 120 nm
- Submarine pipeline works by M/V fortitudeCable ops · 64 nm
Worldwide in the collected sources
56 survey operations listed in force · see all
Record snapshot 2026-10-01 20:49Z; source collection times vary.
Surveys
Hydrographic and scientific survey vessels, often towing long arrays. All current survey operations →
Not for navigation. This is a re-rendering of an official navigational warning for awareness; mariners must use official NAVAREA broadcasts and their national MSI service.