Speaker: Prof. Lin Jian

Host: Prof. Zheng Mei

Time: March 28, 2016 7:00-9:00 p.m. 

Location: Room 103, Science teaching building of Peking University

Sponsor: Institute of Ocean Research, Peking University

Lin Jian: A Senior Scientist who was appointed as the Deputy Director of South China Sea Institute of Oceanology in 2014. He is interested in computational geodynamics and marine geophysics, earthquake mechanics and processes, structural and thermal evolution of oceanic lithosphere, oceanic crust accretion, upper mantle thermal regime and melting, oceanic hotspots and mid-ocean ridges, tectonics of rifted margins, fault mechanics, etc. This seminar is hosted by Professor Mei Zheng.

Professor Lin Jian

The ocean covers approximately 70% of Earth's surface, and three quarters of the ocean is deeper than 3,000 meters. However, so far, we still have little knowledge of the inner layer of the blue planet that we live on. At present, the State Council is promoting the construction of world-class universities and first-class disciplines. How to seize the historical opportunity to develop the deep-sea science and technology? Chinese universities should build a marine talent training program like the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, said Lin Jian. He highlighted the prospect and potential of marine research in China. At present, China's deep-sea research is still in a relatively backward stage compared with the developed countries, demanding a steady stream of young and promising scientists. At the same time, the marine geoscience will provide important scientific support for the Belt and Road Initiative.

Deep-sea Frontier Science: Professor Lin likened the Mariana Trench to the "fourth pole" of the earth. Then, Professor Lin introduced the current frontier scientific research problems and progress of global deep-sea research, and he pointed out that the present Chinese ocean research mainly focused on Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and China seas, and the strategic value of North Indian Ocean studies is increasingly prominent. Therefore, scientists should strive to lead the international marine geoscience research by strengthening the deep-sea frontier research and marine talents training.

Strategic ideas of deep-sea scientific research: Professor Lin expressed his views on how to make deep sea research frontier science connect the Belt and Road Initiative. First, Chinese marine scientists need to promote deep-sea research from an international perspective and speed up the study of the North Indian Ocean. Second, China should play a leading role in promoting the construction of the new international cooperation alliance. Here he mentioned the cooperation plan between China and Pakistan. Third, the warning and mitigation capacity of natural disasters in coastal countries and regions should be improved and a joint platform for developing marine geoscience should be built. Fourth, in the training of talents, we should cooperate with the international community and the developed countries.

Looking forward to the future: At the end of the lecture, Professor Lin shared his outlook on the future of China's deep-sea research. China is now in the historical stage of the strategic transition from a country with vast sea dominion to a country with strong sea power,  and the ocean research in China is facing an unprecedented bright future. He stressed the importance of the deep-sea study and the talents training, and expressed the willingness to cooperate with Institute of Ocean Research of Peking University He believes that the revolution of China's marine science and technology and the breakthrough of deep sea cross-science are bound to be around the corner.

The Belt and Road Initiative: It is proposed by China in 2013, aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa based on ancient land and maritime trade routes.