China Endeavors to Build a Big Data “Smart Ocean”

China, on its way of becoming a maritime power, is promoting the development of maritime big data and the building of the “Smart Ocean.”

The 2016 China Qingdao International Ocean Summit Forum was held in Qingdao on September 26th. Experts participating expressed the belief that big data is the emerging strategic resource, maritime big data is the scientific application of big data technology in the maritime field, and maritime science has entered a new era driven by both data and knowledge.

Wu Lixin, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Science, pointed out that maritime big data involves various fields, including: physical oceanography, marine geology, marine biology, marine ecology, marine chemistry, marine remote sensing, and deep-sea observation – physical oceanography, alone, has waves, humidity, salinity, and another 200 data variables.

According to sources, Tsinghua University is building a remote sensing big data center to support the development of maritime big data, including an ocean storm surge and inland flood monitoring and early-warning system, marine remote sensing big data mining, and analysis and innovative application of navigation satellite in maritime fields.

Wang Lei, from the Institute of Oceanology, reported that his Institute, in cooperation with Qingdao Bangbang Information Co., Ltd., has developed the CAS Scientific and Technical Service Network Project which has been operating in fish and crab farming for about three years with over 400,000 users. Experts said this project has built a smart aquaculture and big data platform which can collect and analyze all major influential factors in farming in a comprehensive way, and achieve process monitoring, environmental early-warning, data processing, and technical guidance.

The Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology is also dedicated to maritime big data development and is building petaflop supercomputers, which will be fastest supercomputers in the maritime field for China.

Wu Lixin, Director of Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, proposed the “Transparent Ocean Project,” which uses satellite sensing, intelligent buoy, underwater glider, underwater robot, deep-sea space station, and other equipment to acquire, in real-time, the general information of a marine environment at different depths in certain areas, while supporting channel safety, marine ecological environment and resources safety, maritime disaster prevention, and relief and weather forecasting.