On January 10, the results of the “Top 10 Science and Technology Events in Zhejiang” in 2022 were officially announced, and the Arctic Deep Observation Program, approved as the United Nations “Ocean Decade” project and led by the SIO, was successfully selected.

As the main initiator and important participant of China’s polar survey and research, the SIO implemented the Arctic JASMInE Scientific Program from July to September 2021, and carried out a comprehensive geophysical exploration for Gakkel Ridge of the Arctic Ocean. Samples of hydrothermal products were collected in the survey area for the first time during the underwater hydrothermal survey synchronously conducted, and the unique polar mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal system with large range, strong abnormal signal and poor biomass was found, realizing a breakthrough of China’s polar research in the field of seabed exploration.

In June 2022, the international cooperative research program “Arctic Deep Observation for Multi-sphere Cycling (ADOMIC)” applied by the SIO, in collaboration with the University of Alaska, the Alfred Wegener Institute of Germany, the VSEGEI of Russia, the University of Oslo, Norway, the Memorial University of Newfoundland, the Sri Lankan National Aquatic Resources Research & Development Agency, the Blue Economy of Seychelles, Nanyang Technological University and the China Ocean Development Foundation, was officially approved as the United Nations “Ocean Decade” project. The leading organizer was Academician Li Jiabiao. This is the first leading international cooperation project for the Arctic of China.

Through an innovative multinational cooperation model based on multiple interested parties, ADOMIC will conduct multi-disciplinary and multi-scale research on the exchange of matter and energy in multiple spheres such as seabed lithosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere in the Arctic Ocean, so as to form new understandings of the deep geodynamic processes, magmatic activity, hydrothermal cycle and crustal cold water cycle in the mid-ocean ridge of the Arctic Ocean, assess the impact of the material cycle between spheres on the carbon cycle and ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean, establish corresponding models to predict the contribution and response of the Arctic Ocean to global change, and provide solutions to the Arctic Ocean environmental problems and regional management under the pressure of human activities.

As the most important global marine science initiative launched by the United Nations in the next decade, the “Ocean Decade: 2021-2030” aims to provide scientific solutions for global marine governance, determine the knowledge required for sustainable development, form a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the ocean, strengthen the use of marine knowledge, and finally form “the ocean we want” to achieve sustainable development of the ocean.