See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/354597441

Developing big ocean system in support of Sustainable Development Goals:

challenges and countermeasures

Article in Big Earth Data · September 2021

DOI: 10.1080/20964471.2021.1965371

CITATIONS READS

9 297

6 authors, including:

Bin Zhang Zhetao Tan

Chinese Academy of Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences
28 PUBLICATIONS 750 CITATIONS 8 PUBLICATIONS 98 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Xiaofeng Li
Institute of Oceanography CAS
399 PUBLICATIONS 7,788 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Xiaofeng Li on 15 September 2021.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

BIG EARTH DATA
https://doi.org/10.1080/20964471.2021.1965371

Developing big ocean system in support of Sustainable

Development Goals: challenges and countermeasures
Bin Zhanga,b, Fuchao Lia,b, Gang Zhengc, Yanjun Wanga,b, Zhetao Tand and Xiaofeng Lia,b
a
Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China; bCenter for Ocean Mega-Science,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China; cState Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment
Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, China;
d
International Center for Climate and Environment Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

The ocean is a critical part of the global ecosystem. The marine Received 7 June 2021
ecosystem balance is crucial for human survival and sustainable Accepted 2 August 2021
development. However, due to the impacts of global climate KEYWORDS
change and human activities, the ocean is rapidly changing, Marine big data; Sustainable
which poses an enormous threat to human health and the econ­ Development Goals; data
omy. “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine management; EasyDM
resources” is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Therefore, it is urgent to construct a transformative marine scientific
solution to promote sustainable development. Marine data is the
basis of ocean cognition and governance. Marine science has ush­
ered in the era of big data with continuous advances in modern
marine data acquisition. While big data provides a large amount of
data for SDG research, it simultaneously brings unprecedented
challenges. This study introduces an overall framework of
a system for solving the current problems faced by marine data
serving SDGs from the perspective of marine data management
and application. Also, it articulates how the system helps the SDGs
through two application cases of managing fragmented marine
data and developing global climate change data products.

1. Introduction
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all United Nations Member States
in 2015, involve an enormous, complex, diverse, dynamic, and interrelated research system.
The effective measurement and monitoring of each goal is the most effective approach to
achieving the SDGs. SDG research is interdisciplinary, involving resource management, the
environment, biology, ecology, society, the economy, humanities, and many other domains.
Moreover, the scope of research is typically global, and achieving the SDGs increasingly relies
on systematic and reliable primary global data (Guo, 2017, 2020; Jia, 2020; Merritt, Bi, Davis,
Windmill, & Xue, 2018; Wang & Yan, 2020).
Oceans cover 71% of the Earth’s surface and absorb over 90% of global heat from solar
radiation. The ocean global circulation system is a crucial regulator of the weather system and

CONTACT Xiaofeng Li [email protected] Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071,
China
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis Group and Science Press on behalf of the International Society for Digital Earth,
supported by the CASEarth Strategic Priority Research Programme.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
2 B. ZHANG ET AL.

an essential part of the Earth (IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), 2013; Leng
& Xu, 2021; Rhein, Rintoul, & Aoki et al., 2013; Schuckmann et al., 2016; Trenberth, Fasullo, &
Balmaseda, 2014). Therefore, the ocean contribution to global climate change regulation is
attracting greater attention. They also play a key role in guaranteeing life on the planet.
Changes in the marine environment and restoring the marine ecosystem balance are critical
for human survival and sustainable development. To further strengthen the implementation
of the SDGs, in December 2017, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed a Decade of
Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) (hereafter referred to as “Ocean
Decade”) (UNESCO, 2020) with seven goals, including establishing a clean, healthy, predict­
able, safe, and accessible ocean. It is vital to describe the past and current ocean conditions
and predict future ones using historical, contemporary, and modeling data to realize the goals
of the Ocean Decade.
With the rapidly advancing marine observation and simulation techniques, marine data are
growing exponentially. Comprehensive, continuous, multi-source, and three-dimensional
observation enables the currant marine data to reach the exabyte level and the daily increase
to the terabyte level. Marine science has ushered in the era of big data (Liu, Chen, Liu & Tian.,
2020; Qian & Chen, 2018), providing a large amount of data to support SDG research.
However, many problems remain in marine big data organization, management, mining,
and utilization, leading to SDG research difficulties. The issues are summarized as follows.
1) Data resource creations are insufficient, and data opening and sharing degrees
are low. Data sharing and opening can ensure that all research group types can obtain
data, data products, and services. However, because countries and institutions exhibit
different data opening policies and data integration and sharing abilities, data and
information exchange levels vary significantly across regions. In Europe and North
America, over 90% of data centers contain data and information exchange activities. In
the United States, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its Earth
Observing System (EOS) have established the EOS Data and Information System. The
National Center for Environmental Information integrates global atmospheric, oceanic,
coastal, and geophysical data, and it contains the largest open World Ocean Database
(WOD) worldwide. The British Oceanographic Data Centre, French National Centre for
Space Studies, German Aerospace Center, Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, and
Canadian Space Agency have also shared various marine data products on a unified
platform. The European Union has established a marine data management framework
composed of SeaDataNet, EMODnet and Copernicus CMEMS. What’s better is the
SeaDataNet adopt the common communication standards and adapted technology to
ensure the platforms interoperability, effectively promoting global marine science
research and development. EMODNET portal uses semi-automatic way to identify and
contact potential marine data providers actively, and acquire new data and key data sets
(Han, Liang, & Zheng et al., 2020). However, Latin America and the Caribbean have less
than 50% sharing of their open data. In some other least developed regions, the propor­
tion is even lower. Their data acquisition and processing capacities are far behind devel­
oped regions, such as Europe and the United States (IOC-UNESCO, 2020). The lack of
a unified data processing and sharing platform limits open data usage.
2) Many marine data quality problems exist in the absence of an internationally
recognized optimal scheme. There are many sources of international marine data, and
different countries and organizations have various data acquisition and quality control
 BIG EARTH DATA 3

(QC) methods. A large proportion of abnormal observational data exist due to human
error, instrument error, varying observation environments, and other reasons, resulting in
uneven data quality. Many countries and agencies have released ocean observing data­
bases, such as the WOD, Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Programme (GTSPP),
Argo Float Database, and etc. (Argo, 2020; Boyer, Baranova, & Coleman et al., 2018; Good,
Martin, & Rayner, 2013; Gouretski, 2018; UNESCO-IOC, 2010). These databases were
released after QC using different techniques and have been widely used in physical
oceanography, climate change, and other studies. The international consensus is that
severe quality problems are present in these widely used international ocean databases.
The International Quality Controlled Ocean Database (IQuOD) was used to perform
a comprehensive evaluation of commonly used data QC methods worldwide by compar­
ing the true-positive rate (TPR) and false-positive rate (FPR). The results demonstrate that
the current mainstream QC techniques do not consider the optimal state of QC with
a high TPR and low FPR (Simon, 2019). Thus, current data QC techniques fail to meet the
high-quality data needs of modern marine science.
3) The current multi-source data analysis and application competencies are insuffi­
cient, and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data in the marine field is
still in its infancy. The research objects of modern marine science are broader and deeper
in time and space. Developing multi-scale marine information mining techniques and
efficient, quick, and intelligent applications are the bottleneck problems in marine
science. AI is an essential driving force for a new round of scientific and technological
revolution and industrial transformation. It is also widely used in various fields such as
science and technology, economy, etc. However, marine AI and big data applications in
marine sciences are in the initial stage of development. The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States released its AI strategy in 2021
(NOAA, 2021), aiming to leverage AI in demand-driven prioritized tasks. NOAA strives to
reduce marine data processing costs through this AI strategy and provide high-quality
and timely scientific products and services for society. Google, IBM, and other interna­
tional companies have applied AI techniques to weather forecasting, precipitation fore­
casting, and etc. The integration of AI and marine big data analysis and mining
technologies has become a new growth point for the practical application of marine
big data (Li et al., 2020).
The Center for Ocean Mega-Science, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), constructed
a marine big data management and application service system. This study first introduces the
overall framework of the marine big data management and application service system. Then,
we focus on the demonstrated applications of this system in data aggregation and manage­
ment, marine data QC, and ocean disaster prevention to address several challenges in current
marine data management and application.

2. Marine big data management and application service system

The proposed marine big data management and application service system encompasses
three sections (Figure 1): a data management platform, a data processing platform, and a data
service platform. The system’s primary function is to automatically perform multi-source data
aggregation, integration, QC, and product development. Additionally, the system can provide
high-quality marine observational data and data products for scientific researchers,
4 B. ZHANG ET AL.

Figure 1. Overall framework of marine big data management and application service system. The
green numbers (1, 2, and 3) represent the three platforms of the system. The contents of the orange
numbers will be described in Sections 3.1 and 3.2.

Figure 2. Marine data retrieval and download service interface (msdc.qdio.ac.cn/search-field). The left
side includes the query conditions and the right side shows the query results.

government agencies, and social groups through a unified data service platform (Figure 2).
Further, the findings of different researchers, such as mathematical models and AI algorithms,
can be transformed into a visualized decision support system for governments, enterprises,
etc., offering services for marine health assessment, disaster prevention, and mitigation.

2.1. Data management platform

The data management platform is designed to perform real-time aggregation and
standardization of multi-source data and construct the initial ocean observation data­
base. SDG research is typically large-scale and multidisciplinary, requiring data support
from various sources. It typically involves marine survey data, such as ship-based survey
data, buoy data, ocean station data, and model reanalysis data. The proposed system
formulates the automatic data format conversion method to standardize the multi-
 BIG EARTH DATA 5

source and multi-type marine environment historical data. The data are simultaneously
sorted and marked according to the data source, subject, data usage, and etc.
The primary data types are as follows:

● Public data. This data type refers to data released by different data centers or agencies
with fixed data sources and regular updates. The data has been standardized in a fixed
format. The platform cooperates with data publishing agencies to automatically obtain
the latest daily public data. The obtained data are reorganized according to the system
format. At the same time, the data source is marked in the data service system. We
require users to quote in accordance with the requirements of data owners.
● Ocean dark data. Dark data is data that has not been sufficiently explored or under­
stood. In marine scientific research, dark data refers to the scattered data generated
by researchers that cannot be effectively archived or saved. The ocean dark data
management platform was developed (Easy Data-Management (EasyDM), see
Section 3.1 for details) to handle this data type. Data owners can independently
integrate and manage the data and authorize the data-use scope.

These data management methods can effectively expand data source channels and
standardize and unify data from different sources. They also shorten the data collection
and compilation times. In order to ensure the data security, all the data collected by the data
center are protected by the unit firewall and the data center firewall. On the other hand,
when using EasyDM system for personal data aggregation, all operations are carried out in
the internal network of the unit and included in the data resource pool after being checked
by the data center. At the same time, we manage the data resources at different levels,
including public sharing, protocol sharing, and classified data. The public sharing data
allows users to directly access. For protocol sharing data, users can access the metadata,
but they cannot directly access the data resources. These data need to be distributed to
users by managers after authorization. The classified data is stored in the confidential
computer alone and cannot be accessed on the Internet.

2.2. Data processing platform

The primary functions of the data processing platform are to control the quality of multi-
source data and build a high-quality ocean observation database. High-quality marine
observational data is the foundation of SDG research. Due to the quality issues of
commonly used global data, priority should be given to parameters with a high usage
frequency and a wide range of applications. Therefore, we conducted research and
developed a multi-parameter data QC technique. The parameters include marine hydrol­
ogy, marine geology, and marine chemistry, and they are described in detail as follows.

● Marine hydrology (Temperature and Salinity) data exhibits regional variations and
periodic seasonal characteristics. Therefore, we developed a new data QC module
including different data characteristics: range, peak, equivalence, gradient, maxi­
mum depth, regional meteorology, and regional gradient meteorology checks.
● Marine geology (Water Depth) data is predominately fixed and unchanged. Our
proposed platform incorporates satellite altimetry data to determine the initial
6 B. ZHANG ET AL.

data fields. It uses the Expert–Machine combination method to perform QC and form
a data QC module, including an extreme value check, eigenvalue distribution check,
track map diagnosis, and adjacent voyage comparison check.
● Marine Chemistry (Oxygen, Nitrate and Nitrite, Silicate, pH, Chlorophyll and
Phosphate) data exhibits regional and seasonal variations, particularly in coastal
areas, which are greatly affected by human activities and land-based materials.
Therefore, the platform checks the data completeness, data scope, regional
meteorology, geographical correlation, time scale correlation, and parameter
correlation of this data type.

We constructed a high-quality ocean observing database after the QC and deviation

correction of the initial ocean observing data (Zhang, Cheng, et al., 2020). The data-
sharing service is provided through the data service platform described in Section 2.3.

2.3. Data service platform

The data service platform provides convenient data acquisition and system platform
services for different user groups. The platform is divided into two types of based
functions: the data resource service platform and data visualization service platform,
which are described in detail below.

● The data resource service platform offers external data management services and
conducts the online operation processes (msdc.qdio.ac.cn) such as data collection,
browsing, application, and audit. In addition, this platform provides a high-quality
global ocean observing database (Section 2.2) with download service, map research
and diversified data retrieval. Users can locate target data through multiple para­
meters such as classification label, attribute, space-time range, and survey platform,
and they can download the results online. This platform also provides an online data
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)/ China Science and Technology Resource (CSTR)
registration service. All the data submitted to this platform will be registered with
DOI/CSTR to identify the data source. When users use data, we ask them to identify
the data source and reference the data. In this way, we hope that as far as possible to
strengthen data intellectual property protection and protect the rights and interests
of data owners.
● Data visualization platform. Based on the Cesium data visualization system
(https://cesium.com/platform/cesiumjs/), we present a component-based inter­
active visualization structure for multidimensional and spatiotemporal ocean
data based on Cesium 3D Platform. It is free and has rich data visualization
plug-ins. Based on this structure, users can customize the system to visualize
other scientific data in a rapid manner. On the one hand, it can display all
marine environmental monitoring data types in real-time. On the other hand, it
can integrate warning models and forecast marine disasters such as offshore
marine ecological disasters and dynamic disasters (http://casearthocean.qdio.ac.
cn/oceanVisual). Thus, this platform can intuitively display the early warning
information for marine disaster prevention and mitigation.
 BIG EARTH DATA 7

2.4. System architecture

The overall architecture of the marine big data management and application service
system includes resource layer, platform layer and application layer (Figure 3).

● The resource layer is the foundation of the whole service architecture. Its main
function is to provide computing, storage and data service resources for the platform
layer. The resource layer is further divided into physical layer, data layer and virtual
layer. The physical layer includes computing server, physical storage, high-speed
network and computing model. The data layer integrates the existing data resources,
stores data in the storage system based on the unified data storage model. Through
virtualization technology, the virtual layer integrates different nodes and heteroge­
neous physical resources to form a large resource pool for the platform layer.
● The platform layer is the middle layer connecting the resource layer and the
application layer. The platform layer includes three parts: cloud service, cloud plat­
form and resource registration and monitoring. Cloud services mainly provide data
services, data loading services, data query services, computing services and model
services. The platform contains a distributed data storage structure, which stores the
data on each node in a distributed way. The data are readed and processed directly
from each node during data access. In the master-slave database, the master is
responsible for the load of the write operation, while the read operation is com­
pleted by the slave to ensure the security of the data.
● The application layer is the top layer of the whole framework. The application layer
provides an interactive interface for users through the user interface. At the same time, it
provides a management interface for administrators through the management interface
to manage the permissions of users and all resources in the management system. Users
can query data resources to meet their own needs in various forms. The system also
provides online model calling function to realize complex service functions such as
online data processing, calculation simulation and analysis.

3. Applications of the data system

An integrated marine big data management and application service system is built to
aggregate and share marine data effectively. This system also offers enormous marine
data and technical support for SDG research, particularly to achieve the Ocean Decade
goals. This section explains the applications of the system through two cases.

3.1. EasyDM serves Ocean Decade

“One accessible ocean”, which refers to open and fair access to ocean-related data,
information, technology, and innovation, is one of the seven goals of the Ocean
Decade. Inequalities in marine science must be eliminated by simultaneously advancing
data acquisition and QC. Additionally, data collection, knowledge generation, and tech­
nology development skills must be enhanced, particularly in the least developed coun­
tries, small island developing states, and landlocked developing countries.
8 B. ZHANG ET AL.

Each developed coastal country has established a national data center to aggre­
gate and integrate its marine data effectively. However, much data remains scat­
tered throughout various research institutions. Researchers own some data. These
data can be categorized as ocean dark data, which cannot be aggregated to a data
center for unified management. Data owners often lack the workforce and technol­
ogy to manage data effectively, leading to wasted data resources. This problem is
more prominent in less developed countries.
Therefore, an intuitive ocean dark data management platform Easy Data-Management
(EasyDM), was designed and developed to standardize data management and sharing. The
platform system adopts C/S(Client/Server) architecture design and development. The primary
server is in the data center; thus, the researchers do not need to purchase new equipment for
data storage.

Figure 3. The architecture of the marine big data management and application service system.
 BIG EARTH DATA 9

The proposed system was jointly constructed and managed by the data owners and
centers. In addition, the system was embedded with common marine survey data keywords
and data record formats (e.g. longitude and latitude record format, measurement unit, record
length, and etc.). Users can dynamically customize a data storage sheet by selecting the
embedded keywords according to the topic data. After converting the original data to the
selected data format, users upload the data independently by hitting a button. The system
then automatically establishes the database for data storage.
The system contains built-in data and a user management system (Figure 4). The

Figure 4. Workflow of ocean dark data management by different users using EasyDM system.

data and users are classified and set using different labels. Each user can customize
his/her data usage (e.g. public sharing, protocol sharing, personal use, etc.) and
scope. The public sharing data is incorporated into the unified management plat­
form owned by the data center, and the data service platform offers external
services. Regarding the data sharing protocol, the metadata information is released
through the data service platform. When other users apply for data usage, the data
center provides data sharing services with the data owner’s consent. Concerning
data for personal use, only the data owner can browse and use the data.
This system solves the problem of data resource loss caused by a lack of data management
technology. Additionally, the proposed system organizes massive historical data resources,
which helps users manage data and significantly increases user initiatives for data sharing,
thus expanding the data resource pool.
At present, the system has been applied to the marine chemistry data manage­
ment of the Institute of Oceanology, CAS. After integrating the self-owned data with
the international shared data, a marine chemistry database containing over
19 million data points was established to support global ocean acidification research
(Figure 5) (Zhong et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2021). Marine researchers in different
countries can further optimize this system to promote the management and sharing
of marine data and support the Ocean Decade.
10 B. ZHANG ET AL.

Figure 5. The pCO2 data products based on this platform (Wang et al., 2021). a) Mean Sea surface CO2
fluxes (Pg C) in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 in the Southern Ocean. b) Trends in CO2 flux of the Southern
Ocean during 2000–2015.
 BIG EARTH DATA 11

3.2. Building marine grid data products to serve SDG 13 research

Research on ocean environmental change is a critical part of SDG 13: climate action.
A gridded temperature/salinity database, such as WOA, EN4, and Ishii, with complete global
ocean coverage is a critical foundation for studying climate change and sea-level rise.
However, due to limited data quantity and quality, analysis results exhibit high levels of
uncertainty. For example, the mainstream ocean temperature data products cannot identify
a reliable long-term trend in the upper ocean between 0–700 m depth. The uncertainty of
the deep-sea between 700–2000 m is even greater. This uncertainty is predominantly due to
the systematic deviation of observational data, the lack of observational data from the last
century, and data quality issues (Zhang, Wang, & Cheng et al., 2017).

Figure 6. Development process of marine data products based on this system.

Researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, CAS, and the Institute of
Oceanography, CAS, constructed an automatic data product development system
(Figure 6) that provides monthly ocean temperature and salinity grid data products.
Researchers called the temperature and salinity observational data through the
data service platform. After data QC and deviation correction, the researchers
employed the ensemble optimal interpolation method with a dynamic ensemble
(EnOI-DE; Cheng & Zhu, 2016) to build the global ocean temperature (Figure 7) and
salinity 1°- and 0.5°-resolution data products (Cheng et al., 2017). We automated these
data products from data acquisition, processing, grid, and the final product release
service, which successfully improves the data product development efficiency and
provides faster and more accurate data support for global climate change research
(Cheng et al., 2021).

● Data resources: In addition to the international shared data that is commonly used
in marine scientific research, such as WOD, ARGO, and GTSPP, data resources include
the special Chinese offshore survey voyage data to the Western Pacific Ocean and
the Eastern Indian Ocean, Chinese offshore observational buoy data, and deep-sea
buoy data from Western Pacific scientific observing network. These data were
obtained from the CAS, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Education, and
12 B. ZHANG ET AL.

Figure 7. Global ocean temperature gridded data (Spatial resolution: 1°×1°; Temporal resolution:
monthly mean; Vertical resolution: 0–2000 m, 41 layers). For example, water depth: a = 0 m; b = 50 m;
c = 100 m; d = 300 m; time: July 2020.

other institutions in China, and they were collected and compiled using the data
platform.
● Data preprocessing: Chinese original and independent observational data under­
went integrity verification, preprocessing, metadata information association, dupli­
cation removal, format standardization, etc., before being integrated with the
international shared data. Thus, a unified ocean temperature and salinity database
was constructed with data from over 15 million stations.
● Data quality control: We optimized the data quality control methods commonly
used in the world, especially the local climate state check module, which is consid­
ered to be one of the most effective means to identify temperature and salt data
errors. We divide the whole ocean into 1°×1° sub regions, and use the statistical
distribution characteristics of historical observation data in each sub region to define
the threshold range (Figure 8 and Figure 9). If an observation data exceeds the set
threshold, it will be marked as suspicious data. For the statistical characteristic data
of normal distribution, the threshold (upper and lower bounds of climate state) is
determined by using the PauTa Criterion (extreme value test). For skewed distribu­
tion data, Quantile Method is used to determine the threshold.

We use the WOD data to test the accuracy of data quality control. The test data is
download from NOAA/NCEI (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/world-ocean-
database). Data location is from 73.5°E to 74.5°E, 37.5°N to 38.5°N, and time spans from
1940 to present. Figure 9a demonstrates all the profiles of the original temperature
observation data. Figure 9b shows the correct data after NCEI quality control. Figure 9c
shows our quality control results. Through comparative analysis, we can see that our
quality control system has identified more abnormal data.
 BIG EARTH DATA 13

Figure 8. Data quality control by climate state check. The red dot is the data marked as an error.

Figure 9. Comparison of quality control results for ocean temperature data: a) the original tempera­
ture observation data; b) data after NCEI data quality control; c) data after data quality control.

● Data deviation correction: Regarding the ocean observational data deviation, the
system adopted the expendable bathythermograph (XBT) and mechanical bathyther­
mograph (MBT) data deviation correction schemes proposed by the Institute of
Atmospheric Physics, CAS, to correct the historical data deviation. The XBT bias correc­
tion scheme is recommended by the international XBT research group (Cheng et al.,
2016). The scheme can correct XBT systematic bias and ensure the accuracy of historical
ocean subsurface observing data. At present, the IQuOD only uses the XBT scheme.
● Gridded data technology: A new spatial interpolation scheme was adopted that uses the
EnOI-DE method and fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project multi-
mode historical simulation to provide dynamic ensemble samples. The aim was to provide
an improved initial field (as a prior estimate) and background error covariance (defining
how information is transferred from the observed area to the non-observed area). Thus, we
14 B. ZHANG ET AL.

Figure 10. Global ocean gridded product and the visualization system: a) 0–2000 m mean ocean
temperature anomaly related to 1981–2010 baseline; b) 0–2000 m mean ocean salinity anomaly
related to 1981–2010 baseline.

can identify the anisotropic correlations between different grid data points more accu­
rately and reconstruct the temperature/salinity field in the non-observed area.
● Data products publishing and sharing: Data products are published and shared
through the marine data resource service platform (http://msdc.qdio.ac.cn/). The
ocean data visualization platform presents these data products for scientific
advancement (Figure 10).

The proposed system provides comprehensive process services from data acquisition to
data product development and sharing. For example, the global ocean heat content changes
grid data products have been used in over 90 countries and widely cited in the literature.

4. Conclusions
The ocean is the primary driving force and regulator of global climate and environ­
mental changes and a critical part of the Earth system. Therefore, it can provide
solutions to climate change mitigation and sustainable marine economic develop­
ment (including the future of food and energy). However, due to human activities on
land and the interactions between the ocean, atmosphere, and cryosphere, the
oceans face many issues, such as frequent marine ecological disasters, severe marine
pollution, and ecosystem degradation, which pose an enormous threat to human
health and the economy.
Ocean data are critical for ocean cognition and governance. Therefore, marine
data management and application service system processes have been established
 BIG EARTH DATA 15

to effectively aggregate and standardize data from different sources and subjects in
real-time. Additionally, high-quality and multidisciplinary data QC techniques have
been developed to provide high-quality scientific data for other users and support
SDG research effectively.
The proposed system exhibits three superior characteristics compared to those of the
traditional data management system:

● In addition to conventional data aggregation and management, an intuitive data

management platform EasyDM has been developed for the users lacking data
management experience. The proposed platform assumes that data centers and
users jointly build and manage data resources, which improves user data-
sharing initiatives and fragmented data aggregation and management.
Furthermore, it expands the data resource pool.
● In addition to providing a data-sharing service similar to that of the traditional
data management system, the proposed system exhibits sufficient expansibility.
It can further integrate relevant data product development modules to auto­
matically perform data acquisition, QC, deviation correction, and product pro­
duction. Thus, the efficiency of data product development is improved, which
can quicken the progress of scientific research.
● To further serve the SDGs, the findings of different researchers, such as
scientifically developed marine dynamical and ecological disaster models and
early warnings methods, can be transformed into platforms. For example, such
a platform, CASEarth-Ocean, may use the ocean data visualization platform to
provide intuitive disaster early warning information for the government and
the public.

The development of SDG research increases the demand for interdisciplinary

data integration and deep data mining applications. There is an increasingly pro­
minent contradiction between traditional data analysis and mining methods and
the needs of modern marine science. Therefore, in the future, researchers can focus
on the critical technologies of AI oceanography. They can integrate and develop
relevant AI algorithms according to typical marine targets, marine data shape, and
sample distribution characteristics. Researchers can also construct a corresponding
AI deep learning network model to conduct deep information mining of marine big
data and provide updated information technology support for SDG research.

Acknowledgments
The work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy
of Sciences (Grant Nos. XDA19060101 and XDA19060104), the National Key R&D Program of
China (Grant No. 2017YFA0603201), the Marine Science Data Center CAS and the Youth
Innovation Promotion Association CAS. The authors acknowledge NOAA/NCEI for decades of
efforts in collecting and quality controlling the historical subsurface data, which was the
important data source used in our study.
16 B. ZHANG ET AL.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in Marine Science Data Center, Chinese
Academy of Sciences at http://msdc.qdio.ac.cn. These data were derived from the following
resources available in the public domain:
1. Partial pressure of carbon dioxide in Southern Ocean: http://english.casodc.com/data/meta
data-special-detail?id=1409813943244832769; and
2. Global Ocean temperature grid data product: http://english.casodc.com/data/metadata-
special-detail?id=3.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding
This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences [XDA19060101, XDA19060104, XDB42040401]; the National Key R & D Program of China
[2017YFA0603201]; Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences;
the Key R & D project of Shandong Province (2019JZZY010102), the Key deployment project of
Center for Ocean Mega-Science, CAS (COMS2019R02), the Chinese Academy of Sciences
(Y9KY04101L), National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number U2006211].

Notes on contributors
Bin Zhang received the B.S. degree in Marine Technology (ocean
remote sensing and data processing) from Tianjin University of
Science and Technology, Tianjin, China, in 2009, and the
Ph.D. degrees in Marine Geology from the Ocean University of China,
Qingdao, China, in 2015.
From 2015 to 2017, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Institute of
Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Qingdao, China,
where he was an engineer from 2017 to 2019, and has been a senior
engineer since 2019. His current research interests include ocean data
quality control, big data analysis and mining, and artificial intelligence
applications.

Fuchao Li is a Professor at Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy

of Sciences. He is engaged in genomics-based research on marine
microbial communities, functions and product diversity. In recent
years, he has organized the construction of Oceanographic Data
Center, which integrates marine data resources, and builds
a comprehensive platform of marine scientific data for multi-scene
applications such as marine disaster prevention and mitigation, mar­
ine economic development, and marine scientific research.
 BIG EARTH DATA 17

Gang Zheng received the B.Eng. degree in electronic information engi­

neering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2003, and the M.
S. and Ph.D. degrees in radio physics from the University of Electronic
Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, in 2006 and 2010,
respectively.
From 2010 to 2013, he was an Assistant Researcher with the State Key
Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of
Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, China, where he
was an Associate Researcher from 2013 to 2020, and has been
a Researcher since 2020. His current research interests include ocean
microwave remote sensing, artificial intelligence applications, image pro­
cessing, and electromagnetic numerical modeling.
Dr. Zheng is an Editorial Board Member of the Ocean section of Remote Sensing, and a Topic Editor of
Big Earth Data. From 2018 to 2020, he also served as the Guest Editor for Remote Sensing, and edited
special issues on “AI-based Remote Sensing Oceanography, Synergy of Remote Sensing and Modelling
Techniques for Ocean Studies”, and “Tropical Cyclones Remote Sensing and Data Assimilation”.

Yanjun Wang received the B.S. degree in Computer Science and

Technology from PLA Artillery College, Hefei, China, in 2010, and the
M. S. degree in Computer System Structure from the Harbin University
of Science and Technology, Harbin, China, in 2013.
Since 2013, he has been an engineer of Marine Science Data Center
in Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao,
China. His current research interests include ocean data visualization,
big data analysis, and artificial intelligence applications.

Zhetao Tan is a Ph.D student majored in Meteorlogy from Institute of

Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received the B.
S. degree in Atmospheric Science from Chengdu University of
Information Technology, Chengdu, China, in 2015. His current research
interests include ocean data quality control and oceanic climate
change.

Xiaofeng Li received the B.S. degree in optical engineering from

Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 1985, the M.S. degree in
physical oceanography from the First Institute of Oceanography,
Qingdao, China, in 1992, and the Ph.D. degree in physical oceanogra­
phy from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA, in 1997.
He had been with the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and
Information Service, National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration,
USA, from 1997 to 2019. His research interests include synthetic aper­
ture radar (SAR) applications in oceanography and marine meteorol­
ogy, artificial intelligence oceanography, big data, and satellite image
processing.
18 B. ZHANG ET AL.

Dr. Li is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing and the
International Journal of Remote Sensing. He is an Editorial Board Member of the International Journal
of Digital Earth, Big Earth Data, and the Journal of Oceanology and Limnology. He is also the Executive
Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Remote Sensing (a Science Partner Journal).

References
Argo. (2020). Argo float data and metadata from global data assembly centre (Argo GDAC). France:
SEANOE.
Boyer, T., Baranova, O., Coleman, C., Garcia, H., Grodsky, A., Locarnini, R., . . . Weathers, K., & Zweng
M. (2018). World ocean database 2018. Technical Education, NOAA Atlas NESDIS 87.
Cheng, L., Abraham, J., Goni, G., Boyer, T., Wijffels, S., Cowley, R., . . . Zhu, J. (2016). Xbt science:
Assessment of instrumental biases and errors. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 97
(6), 924–933.
Cheng, L., Abraham, J., Etrenberth, K., Fasullo, J., Boyer, T., Locarnini, R., . . . Zhu, J. (2021). Upper
ocean temperatures hit record high in 2020. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, 12, 1–8.
Cheng, L., Kevin, E. T., Fasullo, J., Boyer, T., Abraham, J., & Zhu, J. (2017). Improved estimates of ocean
heat content from 1960 to 2015. Science Advances, 3(3), e1601545.
Cheng, L., & Zhu, J. (2016). Benefits of CMIP5 multimodel ensemble in reconstructing historical
ocean subsurface temperature variations. Journal of Climate, 29, 5393–5416.
Good, S. A., Martin, M. J., & Rayner, N. A. (2013). EN4: Quality controlled ocean temperature and
salinity profiles and monthly objective analyses with uncertainty estimates. Journal of Geophysical
Research: Oceans, 118(12), 6704–6716.
Gouretski, V. (2018). World ocean circulation experiment-argo global hydrographic climatology.
Ocean Science, 14(5), 1127–1146.
Guo, H. (2017). Big Earth data: A new frontier in Earth and information sciences. Big Earth Data, 1(1–
2), 4–20.
Guo, H. (2020). Big Earth data facilitates sustainable development goals. Big Earth Data, 4(1), 1–2.
Han, l., Liang, J., Zheng, B., Song, X., & Wan, F. (2020). Research on China-EU ocean data interoper­
ability system. Marine Information, 246(4), 55–60.
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). (2013). Climate change 2013: The physical
science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY,
USA: Cambridge University Press.
Isensee, K., IOC-UNESCO. ((ed.)). (2020). Global ocean science report 2020–charting capacity for ocean
sustainability. Paris: UNESCO Publishing.
Jia, G. (2020). The role of big Earth data in understanding climate change. Big Earth Data, 4(2), 91–93.
Leng, S., & Xu, X. (2021). Optimizing research funding allocation for marine sciences in the new era.
Chinese Science Bulletin, 66(2), 193–200.
Li, X., Liu, B., Zheng, G., Ren, Y., Zhang, S., Liu, Y., . . . Wang, F. (2020). Deep-learning-based informa­
tion mining from ocean remote-sensing imagery. National Science Review, 7(10), 1584–1605.
Liu, S., Chen, G., Liu, Y., & Tian, F. (2020). Research and analysis on marine big data applied
technology. Periodical of Ocean University of China, 50(1), 154–164.
Merritt, P., Bi, H., Davis, B., Windmill, C., & Xue, Y. (2018). Big Earth data: A comprehensive analysis of
visualization analytics issues. Big Earth Data, 2(4), 321–350.
NOAA. (2021). NOAA artificial intelligence strategy. Analytics for next-generation earth science.
Strategic plan 2021–2025. https://sciencecouncil.noaa.gov/NOAA-Science-Technology-Focus-
Areas .
Qian, C., & Chen, G. (2018). Big data science for ocean: Present and future. Bulletin of Chinese
Academy of Sciences, 33(8), 884–891.
Rhein, M., Rintoul, S. R., Aoki, S., Campos, E., Chambers, D. (2013). Observations: Ocean. In: Climate
Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment
 BIG EARTH DATA 19

Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and
New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Schuckmann, K. V., Palmer, M. D., Trenberth, K. E., Cazenave, A., Chambers, D., Champollion, N., . . .
Wild, M. (2016). An imperative to monitor earth's energy imbalance.Nature Climate Change, 6,
138–144.
Simon, G. (2019). 6th IQuOD workshop. Brest, France: IFREMER.
Trenberth, K., Fasullo, J., & Balmaseda, M. (2014). Earth’s energy imbalance. Journal of Climate, 27,
3129–3144.
UNESCO. (2020). United Nations decade of ocean science for sustainable development 2021–2030-
implementation plan version 2.0. https://oceanexpert.org/document/27347 .
UNESCO-IOC. (2010). GTSPP real-time quality control manual. IOC Manuals & Guides
Wang, L., & Yan, J. (2020). Stewardship and analysis of big Earth observation data. Big Earth Data, 4
(4), 349–352.
Wang, Y., Li, X., Song, J., Li, X., Zhong, G., & Zhang, B. (2021). Carbon sinks and variations of p CO2 in
the southern ocean from 1998 to 2018 based on a deep learning approach. IEEE Journal of
Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 14, 3495–3503.
Zhang, B., Cheng, C., Wang, X., Chen, M., Wang, Q., Zhang, R., . . . Wang, F. (2020). Review of
observation data processing method and product development of key parameters of marine
environmental change. China Basic Science, 22(3), 41–48.
Zhang, B., Wang, F., Cheng, L., Wang, X., Zhang, D., Zhao, Y., . . . Wang, Q.(2017). Observation data
processing method and product development of key parameters of marine environmental
change. China Basic Science, 19(5), 6–11.
Zhong, G., Li, X., Qu, B., Wang, Y., Yuan, H., & Song, J. (2020). A general regression neural network
approach to reconstruct global 1°×1° resolution sea sur-face pCO2. Haiyang Xuebao, 42(10),
70–79.

View publication stats