Drawing a new blueprint to explore new resources, marine technology sets sail

Marine resources refer to the natural sources of means of production and means of living in the ocean. Marine resources include four categories: marine mineral resources, seawater chemical resources, marine biological (aquatic products) resources and marine power resources. It is estimated that the world's ultimate oil reserves are 1 trillion tons, and the recoverable reserves are 300 billion tons, including 135 billion tons of seabed oil; the world's natural gas reserves are 25.5 to 28 billion cubic meters, and marine reserves account for 14 billion cubic meters. There are many valuable minerals in seaside sediments, such as: rutile containing titanium, a solid fuel used in launching rockets; monazite containing niobium used in rockets and aircraft casings, and tantalum used in reactors and microcircuit; containing high-temperature resistant materials used in nuclear submarines and nuclear reactors and corrosion-resistant zircon ore and zircon; in some sea areas there are also gold, platinum and silver. Gold, zircon, ilmenite, monazite, chromium spinel and other placer deposits with extremely high economic value are also distributed in China's offshore waters.

The development and utilization of marine resources has huge potential, which can not only greatly alleviate the pressure on land resources and achieve sustainable development. At the same time, building a "maritime power" is also a powerful measure to enhance my country's international competitiveness. If you want to develop the ocean, it is very necessary to understand the natural phenomena, properties and changes of the ocean.

Marine science is a highly comprehensive science with a wide range of research, including marine meteorology, physical oceanography, marine chemistry, marine biology and marine geology. Its main contents include basic research on physical, chemical, biological and geological processes in the ocean, as well as applied research on the development and utilization of marine resources and maritime military activities.

In marine scientific research, ocean observation instruments and technical equipment play an important role, sometimes even a decisive role. Sea water is deep and wide, with high density and fluidity, which brings great difficulties to people's direct observation. Therefore, only by vigorously developing ocean observation instruments and technical equipment can we obtain the large amount of ocean data needed to promote the development of ocean science and the utilization of ocean resources.

Our country has natural marine advantages and rich marine resources. According to statistics, my country's marine oil and gas resources sedimentary basin is about 700,000 square kilometers, and the amount of oil resources is estimated to be 24 billion tons.Around 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas resources are estimated. At the same time, there are 2.8 million square kilometers of marine fisheries within the sea areas under our jurisdiction, 240 million acres of shallow sea area within 20 meters, and 2.6 million hectares of seawater aquaculture area.

In terms of research, development and utilization of marine resources, our country has never stopped exploring.

In 2004, the 908 Special Project was officially implemented, including three major tasks: comprehensive offshore ocean survey, comprehensive evaluation and the construction of a "digital ocean" information basic framework. The country has invested a total of 2.059 billion yuan in funding, and has basically explored It clarified the status of my country's offshore marine environmental resources, updated my country's basic offshore marine data and maps, conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the marine environment, resources, development, utilization and management, and established a basic information framework for China's "digital ocean".

In 2017, the Laboratory of the Institute of Oceanography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully built the world's largest real-time transmission scientific observation network in the Western Pacific, and in 2019 further achieved a deep-sea 6,000-meter observation network based on Beidou satellites. The real-time transmission of submersible data breaks through two-way communication technology and realizes adjustable observation frequency, which significantly improves the security, autonomy and reliability of real-time transmission of deep-sea data and is applied in many important fields.

In January 2018, the Marine Science Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was established. The center efficiently operates the "four institutes, ten ships and three docks" scientific research fleet, systematically builds the "four stations, four networks" integrated air, sea and ground observation network, and creates a "north-south dual core, five places and seven institutes" regional sharing system of large marine instruments. , a number of advanced platforms such as marine artificial intelligence and big data have also been built one after another.

In December 2018, the construction of the Southern Marine Laboratory started. The goal of the Southern Marine Laboratory is to build a basic platform for marine innovation that is oriented to the forefront of science and technology and has international cutting-edge standards, build a highland for marine talents at the world's forefront, and create an innovative and breakthrough large-scale comprehensive marine research and application base.

It is conceivable that with the further deepening of the understanding of the ocean and the continuous advancement of science and technology, the beautiful blueprint of marching into the ocean and allowing marine resources to serve mankind is right in front of us.

　(Original title: Draw a new blueprint, explore new resources, and set sail for marine technology)