Research and Application of Role Theory in Ocean Carbon Cycle Ontology Construction

Many researchers have studied the ocean carbon cycle model trying to regulate the level of CO2 in atmosphere from viewpoint of quantification. Unlike other researches, this paper analyzes the conversion process of carbon element in the ocean from the qualitative viewpoint. There are many complex roles in the ocean carbon cycle, and it is hard to represent the case that an entity plays different role in different environment. An ontology technology Hozo role theory developed by Osaka University Mizoguchi Laboratory is proposed as a solution. The basic concepts and representation mode of Hozo role theory is introduced. The conversion process of ocean carbon cycle is abstracted and an ontology model using Hozo role theory is proposed. Instead of comprehensive common ontology construction method, we propose our own ontology development steps. Then an ontology about ocean carbon cycle is built in order to describe and share the basic knowledge of ocean carbon cycle. A knowledge base of material circulation is proposed based on the ontology. Its construction framework is described and some knowledge base query examples are also illustrated. Conclusions show that the role theory can effectively solve the problem of multirole description in ocean carbon cycle, and knowledge reasoning based on ontology is also effective.