Chinese underwater glider Haiyan [File photo: people.cn]

TIANJIN -- Haiyan, a Chinese underwater glider, has set an endurance record among its domestic peers after working for 119 days in the South China Sea.

Codenamed Haiyan, which means storm petrel in Chinese, the glider was safely recovered from the northern part of the South China Sea Monday.

The glider, developed by a team from Tianjin University, sailed 2,272.4 km over four months, a domestic record.

In April, Haiyan set a world dive record by diving 8,213 meters in the Mariana Trench, the world's deepest known trench.

The unmanned gliders can survey marine conditions, such as temperature, salinity and currents, in large bodies of water over a long period of time.