ABOARD JINGGANGSHAN, May 9 -- The Chinese survey ship, Zhukezhen, took over the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH379 from warship Jinggangshan in the southern Indian Ocean early Friday morning.

Zhukezhen, with more than 20 measurement systems on board, specializes in depth measurement and the study of submarine geomorphology and geology.

It will undertake a new underwater phase of the search as winter approaches and conditions in the southern Indian Ocean gradually worsen, posing more difficulties to the search.

During a handover Friday morning, Jinggangshan's crew briefed their replacements on the search operation and coordination, as well as current progress and weather conditions in the search area.

The Chinese navy has dispatched 10 ships to waters in the Gulf of Thailand, near Sumatra Island, and off Australia's southwestern, western and northwestern coasts, scouring more than 500,000 sq. km.