Sensitivity of Marine Controllable Source Electromagnetic Soundings for Identifying Plume Migration in Offshore CO_(2) Storage

Offshore carbon dioxide(CO_(2)) storage is an effective method for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, when using traditional seismic wave methods to monitor the migration of sequestration CO_(2) plumes, the characteristics of wave velocity changes tend to become insignificant beyond a certain limit. In contrast, the controllable source electromagnetic method(CSEM) remains highly sensitive to resistivity changes. By simulating different CO_(2) plume migration conditions, we established the relevant models and calculated the corresponding electric field response characteristic curves, allowing us to analyze the CSEM's ability to monitor CO_(2) plumes. We considered potential scenarios for the migration and diffusion of offshore CO_(2) storage, including various burial depths, vertical extension diffusion, lateral extension diffusion,multiple combinations of lateral intervals, and electric field components. We also obtained differences in resistivity inversion imaging obtained by CSEM to evaluate its feasibility in monitoring and to analyze all the electric field(Ex, Ey, and Ez) response characteristics. CSEM has great potential in monitoring CO_(2) plume migration in offshore saltwater reservoirs due to its high sensitivity and accuracy. Furthermore, changes in electromagnetic field response reflect the transport status of CO_(2) plumes, providing an important basis for monitoring and evaluating CO_(2)transport behavior during storage processes.

Geological evolution of offshore pollution and its long-term potential impacts on marine ecosystems

Populations and metropolitan centers are accumulated in coastal areas around the world.In view of the fact that they are geographically adjacent to coasts and intense anthropogenic activities,increasing global offshore pollution has been an important worldwide concern over the past several decades and has become a very serious problem that needs to be addressed urgently.Due to offshore pollution,various geological disasters occur in high frequency,including intensified erosion and salinization of coastal soils,frequent geological collapses and landslides and increasing seismic activities.Moreover,offshore pollution shows increasingly serious impacts on the topography and geomorphology of offshore and coastal areas,including coastal degradation,retreating coastlines and estuary delta erosion.Offshore sedimentation processes are strongly influenced by the pH changes of terrestrial discharges,and sedimentary dynamics have become extremely acute and complex due to offshore pollution.The seabed topography and hydrodynamic environment determine the fate and transport of pollutants entering offshore regions.Coastal estuaries,port basins and lagoons that have relatively moderate ocean currents and winds are more likely to accumulate pollutants.Offshore regions and undersea canyons can be used as conduits for transporting pollutants from the continent to the seabed.It is particularly noteworthy that the spatial/temporal distribution of species,community structures,and ecological functions in offshore areas have undergone unprecedented changes in recent decades.Due to increasing offshore pollution,the stable succession and development trend of marine ecosystems has been broken.It is thus important to identify and regulate the quantity,composition and transportation of pollutants in offshore regions and their behavior in marine ecosystems.In particular,crucial actions for stabilizing marine ecosystems,including increasing species and biodiversity,should be implemented to enhance their anti-interference capabilities.This review provides an overview of the current situation of offshore pollution,as well as major trends of pollutant fate and transportation from continent to marine ecosystems,transformation of pollutants in sediments,and their bioaccumulation and diffusion.This study retrospectively reviews the long-term geological evolution of offshore pollution from the perspective of marine geology,and analyses their long-term potential impacts on marine ecosystems.Due to ecological risks associated with pollutants released from offshore sediments,more research on the influence of global offshore pollution based on marine geology is undoubtedly needed.

MARINE BIOFOULING IN OFFSHORE AREAS SOUTH OF HAINAN ISLAND, NORTHERN SOUTH CHINA SEA

This study on the characteristics of fouling communities in offshore areas south of Hainan Island, northern South China Sea, was conducted at four sites there. At each station, test panels on iron frames were hung on the mooring system at different depths. Data on biofouling were mainly obtained by examination of the fouled test panels. Organisms attached to buoys and anchors were scraped off and examined also. The results showed that the thickness and biomass of marine growth that increased the fluid loading on offshore installations depended to a large extent on hard foulers, i.e. mollusks and acorn barnacles. Algae, hydroids, stalked barnacles and bryozoans were important fouling species. The occurrence frequency and biomass of acorn barnacles decreased with increasing distance from the shore.

Evaluation of Natural Radioactivity in Marine Sand Deposits from Offshore China

Natural radioactivity is very important for the assessment of the marine sand property and usability. By using gamma spectrometry, the concentration of the natural radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K have been measured in marine sand deposits from Liaodong Bay (LDB), North Yellow Sea (NYS), Zhoushan area (ZS), Taiwan Shoal (TS) and Pearl River Mouth (PR), offshore China, which are potential marine sand mining areas. The radiation activity equivalent (Raeq), indoor gamma absorbed dose rate (DR), annual effective dose (HR), alpha index (Ia), gamma index (Ig), external radiation hazard index (Hex), internal radiation hazard index (Hin), representative level index (RLI), excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) and annual gonadal dose equivalent (AGDE) associated with the natural radionuclides are calculated to assess the radiation hazard of the natural radioactivity in the marine sands offshore China. From the analysis, it is found that these marine sands are safe for the constructions. The Pearson correlation coefficient reveals that the 226Ra distribution in the marine sands offshore China is controlled by the variation of the 40K concentration. Principal component analysis (PCA) yields a two-component representation of the entire data from the marine sands, wherein 98.22% of the total variance is explained. Our results provide good baseline data to expand the database of radioactivity of building materials in China and all over the world.

MARINE FOULING IN OFFSHORE AREAS EAST OF HAINAN ISLAND, NORTHERN SOUTH CHINA SEA

This paper reports on results of the investigation of marine biofouling on offshore structures east of Hainan Island in the northern South China Sea. Two buoy investigation stations were deployed in Qiongdong (W1, 68 n miles offshore) and southern Qiongdong (J2, 23 n miles offshore) waters, respectively. At both sites, water depths were more than 100 meters. Test panels on iron frames were placed at 1, 10, 25, 50 and 100 m below the seawater surface, and exposed for 8 months from October 1989 to June 1990. The results indicated that hydroids, gooseneck barnacles and oysters were the most important fouling species in these offshore areas. Acorn barnacles were mainly found at Station J2. The maximum fouling accumulations were observed in near surface waters. Substantial reduction of biomass and species diversity occurred with increasing depth and distance from shore. Sources of fouling organisms and influences of environmental factors on the species distributions are discussed in this paper.

Offshore Wind Power for Marine Conservation

The seas of northern Europe are strongly affected by human activities and there is a great need for improved marine conservation. The same region is also the current hotspot for offshore wind power development. Wind farms can have negative environmental impacts during construction, but during the operational phase many organisms are attracted to the foundations and thereby may also find refuge from fisheries. Given the recent implementation of marine spatial planning in Europe and elsewhere, this is a critical time to address potential compatibility and synergies between marine conservation and wind power. This review concludes that offshore wind farms can be at least as effective as existing marine protected areas in terms of creating refuges for benthic habitats, benthos, fish and marine mammals. The degree of advantage for these organisms depends on the location of the wind farm and the level of imposed fishing restriction. Under certain conditions wind farms may even be more efficient means of conservation than ordinary marine protected areas. However, offshore wind farms can be negative for several species of seabirds, essentially as occupying preferred feeding or wintering grounds. In areas important to these seabirds wind farms may not comply with conservation. The results bring important messages to marine spatial planning as some but not all wind farms can be spatially combined with, and even synergistic to, marine conservation.

An overview of marine & utility system for offshore platform

Main marine 8, utility （M ＆ U） systems are essential to the routine operation of offshore units, and are extremely important as they are the system that will ensure the basic safety of offshore platforms. This paper gave a general explanation and guideline of the marine ＆ utility systems in offshore projects including their interface with topside, M ＆ U engineering, equipment sizing operation and control.

Distribution and Characteristics of Hazardous Geological Features in the Marine Coastal and Offshore Areas of Zhejiang Province, East China Sea

Newly acquired high-resolution shallow seismic profiles(7069 km in length) in the coastal and offshore areas of Zhejiang Province, East China Sea, China, have revealed eight marine hazardous geological features: shallow gas, sand ridges, erosion ditches, scarps, irregular bedrock features, underwater shoals, buried paleo-channels, and submarine deltas. Based on the seismic profiles, we have constructed a marine geological map of these hazardous features. Shallow gas accumulations are common and occur mainly in two separate nearshore regions that cover 4613 and 3382 km^2 respectively. There are also scattered shallow gas accumulations in the offshore area, typically accompanied by paleo-channels that occur mainly in the middle of the study area. Sand ridges, erosion ditches, scarps, and irregular bedrock features are found mainly in the northeast of the study area in association with each other. In the southeastern part of the study area, the sand ridges have a linear form and trend NW–SE, representing the western part of the linear sand ridges in the East China Sea. The maximum slope gradient is 1?, which suggests that this area is prone to landslides. These hazardous marine geological features are important to marine and engineering activities in this region.

Promoting integrated development of marine ranching and offshore renewable energy in China

The integrated development of marine ranching and offshore renewable energy is a new development mode of marine industry which develops and uses marine resources intensively and ecologically.China has taken the lead in carrying out active exploration,which is of great significance for implementing the concept of green development,seizing the opportunity of Marine economic development and promoting the construction of modern marine ranching.However,in the initial stage of integrated development,in order to ensure sustainable development,it is necessary to focus on the major problems that have emerged or may arise in the areas of ecological protection,technology research and development,financial support and policy support.To solve or prevent these problems,we should strengthen policy toplevel design,policy innovation,international cooperation and first-mover advantage.

Seismic Imaging and Reservoir Architecture of Sub-Marine Channel Systems Offshore West Nile Delta of Egypt

Offshore Nile Delta gas reservoirs are dominated by slope-channel systems of Plio-Pleistocene age. High-quality, three-dimensional seismic imaging has significantly helped in defining the geomorphology and architectures of these channels. Integrating seismic, logs and core data from four wells resulted in understanding of different stages of channel development and reservoir quality. The studied reservoirs that are largely controlled by episodes of transgressive-regressive events resulted in deposition of fine grained sediment and shale. Sienna channel complex consists of unconfined channel system with clearly defined development stages. The stages include amalgamated or stacked channels followed by channel abandonment phases and local flooding events. The depositional pattern continued through the Late Pliocene-Pleistocene. SimSat-P1 and SimSat-P2 reservoirs are characterized by isolated sand bodies, most probably relics of fan depositional setting. The depositional scenario that is largely controlled by successive transgression and flooding events resulted in deposition of interbedded, sheet-like, fine grained sediment and shale.

Feasibility analysis and implementation of marine ranching integration of offshore wind power development in Guangdong Province

Marine ranching is a new model for restoring marine ecological environment and conserving offshore fishery resources.Offshore wind power is a new clean energy industry in China.Based on the analysis of the construction of offshore wind farms in Guangdong Province,this article proposes to actively promote the integrated development of offshore wind power and marine ranching.The suitability and deployment conditions of Sargasso algae reef construction in offshore wind farms,the feasibility of developing an integrated development model featuring artificial algae reefs+offshore wind farms in Guangdong Province,as well as the importance of ecological sea area use and management were discussed.Regarding the necessity of intensive and economical utilization of sea and sea resources,it is believed that the development model of"marine ranching+offshore wind power"will become an important direction for improving the comprehensive utilization of sea areas in the future.

An Assessment of the Marine Mammal Abundance and Population Density within the Ghanaian Offshore Construction Areas

The Gulf of Guinea region enjoined with the unique characteristics of the Guinea surface and underwater currents driving the upwelling season, besets the ecological importance of the area amidst growing offshore development. Though several attempts are being made to identify the various cetacean species inhabiting the area, little to no progress is made to under the animal population, their behaviour and distribution in the face of the growing threat. The study hence attempts to develop cetacean population and distribution estimation within Ghana’s offshore construction sites in the time frame of field development while emphasizing the effects of operations on animal behaviour and habitats, purpose at providing an understanding with the general behaviour of these mammals peculiar to the area and too what level the impact of change is having on distribution trends. The study finds the upwelling tends to suggest, strong animal presence in the area during feeding. Short-fin pilot whales were a dominant cetacean feature within the observed cetacean population estimated to have 160 (CV = 0.3728) presence. Findings suggest the strong biological importance, BIA (habitat, feeding and breeding), as well as operations drawing on animal curiosity, heightened animal vulnerability. Further studies are required to understand the temporal and spatial distributions patterns, while efforts are needed to ensure protected areas are established, animal surveillance and conservative attitudes are encouraged.

Application of GNSS-PPP on Dynamic Deformation Monitoring of Offshore Platforms

The real-time dynamic deformation monitoring of offshore platforms under environmental excitation is crucial to their safe operation.Although Global Navigation Satellite System-Precise Point Positioning(GNSS-PPP)has been considered for this purpose,its monitoring accuracy is relatively low.Moreover,the influence of background noise on the dynamic monitoring accuracy of GNSS-PPP remains unclear.Hence,it is imperative to further validate the feasibility of GNSS-PPP for deformation monitoring of offshore platforms.To address these concerns,vibration table tests with different amplitudes and frequencies are conducted.The results demonstrate that GNSS-PPP can effectively monitor horizontal vibration displacement as low as±30 mm,which is consistent with GNSS-RTK.Furthermore,the spectral characteristic of background noise in GNSS-PPP is similar to that of GNSS-RTK(Real Time Kinematic).Building on this observation,an improved Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise(CEEMDAN)has been proposed to de-noise the data and enhance the dynamic monitoring accuracy of GNSS-PPP.Field monitoring application research is also undertaken,successfully extracting and analyzing the dynamic deformation of an offshore platform structure under environmental excitation using GNSS-PPP monitoring in conjunction with improved CEEMDAN de-noising.By comparing the de-noised dynamic deformation trajectories of the offshore platform during different periods,it is observed that the platform exhibits reversible alternating vibration responses under environmental excitation,with more pronounced displacement deformation in the direction of load action.The research results confirm the feasibility and potential of GNSS-PPP for dynamic deformation monitoring of offshore platforms.

Sparse Modal Decomposition Method Addressing Underdetermined Vortex-Induced Vibration Reconstruction Problem for Marine Risers

When investigating the vortex-induced vibration(VIV)of marine risers,extrapolating the dynamic response on the entire length based on limited sensor measurements is a crucial step in both laboratory experiments and fatigue monitoring of real risers.The problem is conventionally solved using the modal decomposition method,based on the principle that the response can be approximated by a weighted sum of limited vibration modes.However,the method is not valid when the problem is underdetermined,i.e.,the number of unknown mode weights is more than the number of known measurements.This study proposed a sparse modal decomposition method based on the compressed sensing theory and the Compressive Sampling Matching Pursuit(Co Sa MP)algorithm,exploiting the sparsity of VIV in the modal space.In the validation study based on high-order VIV experiment data,the proposed method successfully reconstructed the response using only seven acceleration measurements when the conventional methods failed.A primary advantage of the proposed method is that it offers a completely data-driven approach for the underdetermined VIV reconstruction problem,which is more favorable than existing model-dependent solutions for many practical applications such as riser structural health monitoring.

Vibration Control of A Flexible Marine Riser System Subject to Input Dead Zone and Extraneous Disturbances

An observer-based adaptive backstepping boundary control is proposed for vibration control of flexible offshore riser systems with unknown nonlinear input dead zone and uncertain environmental disturbances.The control algorithm can update the control law online through real-time data to make the controller adapt to the environment and improve the control precision.Specifically,based on the adaptive backstepping framework,virtual control laws and Lyapunov functions are designed for each subsystem.Three direction interference observers are designed to track the timevarying boundary disturbance.On this basis,the inverse of the dead zone and linear state transformation are used to compensate for the original system and eliminate the adverse effects of the dead zone.In addition,the stability of the closed-loop system is proven by Lyapunov stability theory.All the system states are bounded,and the vibration offset of the riser converges to a small area of the initial position.Finally,four examples of flexible marine risers are simulated in MATLAB to verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Corrosion behavior of HVOF Inconel 625 coating in the simulated marine environment

High velocity oxygen fuel(HVOF)spraying process is commonly used to produce superalloy coatings.Inconel 625 coating was prepared on Q235B low carbon steel by HVOF.A series of experiments were conducted to examine the surface and corrosion resistance properties of Inconel 625 HVOF coating.In this paper,potentiodynamic polarization tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS)tests were carried out to evaluate the corrosion resistance of Inconel 625 coating under simulated marine environment.The experiment-al results showed that Inconel 625 coating revealed low porosity and desired coating thickness.Shift in the corrosion potential(E_(corr))to-wards the noble direction combined with much low corrosion current density(i_(corr))indicating a significant improvement of HVOF Inconel 625 coating compared with the substrate.

Preface for the Special Issue on“Safety and Intelligent Maintenance of Offshore Structures”

The ocean serves as a vital carrier for human resource development and economic growth and contains rich mineral resources such as oil,natural gas,polymetallic nodules,cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts,polymetallic sulfides,and rare earth ore.Moreover,the ocean has wealthy reserves of wind,wave,tidal,and solar energy,making it an essential strategic space for sustainable future development.However,offshore structures are complex.

Recent Advances of Bioactive Marine Natural Products in Drug Discovery

Marine natural products(MNPs)are valuable resources for drug development.To date,17 drugs from marine sources are in clinical use,and 33 pharmaceutical compounds are in clinical trials.Presently the success of drug development from the marine resources is higher than the industry average.It is a feasible strategy to conduct the discovery of druglead compounds based on marine chemical ecology by fully exploiting the pharmacological potential of marine chemical defense matters.In the search for bioactive MNPs,our group has constructed a biological resources library including more than 1500 strains of fungi.Focusing on the strategy of Blue Drug Library,we have discovered a series of novel MNPs with abundant biological functions.Highly efficient and scalable total synthesis of(+)-aniduquinolone A(44)and pesimquinolone I(48)have been completed,which will facilitate access to sufficient quantities of candidates for in vivo pharmacological and toxicological studies.As a nucleoprotein(NP)inhibitor,QLA(75)possesses significant anti-influenza A virus(IAV)activities both in vitro and in vivo.CHNQD-00803(76)is a potent and selective AMP-activated kinase(AMPK)activator that can effectively inhibit metabolic disorders and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis(MASH)progression.Moreover,we identified two new candidate molecules with potent anti-hepatocellular carcinoma effects.Particularly,as a natural guanine-nucleotide exchange factors for ADP-ribosylation factor GTPases(Arf-GEFs)inhibitor prodrug,CHNQD-01255(78)is qualified to be developed as a targeted candidate anticancer drug,which may be promising to apply for cancer immunotherapy.Hence,it is evident that MNPs play an important role in drug development.

Coordination Mechanism and Empirical Research on Marine Science Technology Innovation and Marine Eco-civilization:A Case Study of Coastal Areas of China

Marine science technology innovation provides power and guarantees for marine eco-civilization construction,which provides direction and material support for marine science technology innovation.Therefore,the coordinated development of the two is of great significance to the marine economy sustainable development in China’s coastal areas.On the basis of clarifying the connotations of marine science technology innovation and marine eco-civilization in China’s coastal areas from 2006 to 2019,the mechanism for their coordinated development was analysed.A comprehensive indicator system based on the connotation of the two was constructed,and the coordinated development relationship was empirically tested using the coupled coordination model and the panel vector autoregressive(PVAR)model.The results show that:1)the level of China’s coastal marine science technology innovation continues to improve,gradually forming the core of the development of marine science technology innovation in the north,east and south of Shandong,Shanghai and Guangdong;the level of marine eco-civilization development fluctuating upward trend,showing obvious spatial differentiation characteristics.2)The degree of coordination of marine science technology innovation and marine eco-civilization is growing over time.There is no causal relationship between marine science technology innovation and marine eco-civilization in the northern marine economic circle,but there is a two-way causal relationship between the two in the eastern and southern marine economic circles.3)Marine eco-civilization shows a significant positive and continuous impact on marine science technology innovation,and marine science technology innovation shows a long-term,continuous,fluctuating,and lagging impact on marine eco-civilization.The overall role of marine eco-civilization on marine science technology innovation is dominant,and there are significant differences in the impact effects of the two major marine economic circles.

Marine CO_(2) Removal Joins Race to Scale Up Mitigation Tech

In June 2024,startup company Equatic(Santa Monica,CA,USA)announced that it had begun engineering work on the world’s largest and first commercial scale facility using the ocean to remove CO_(2) from the atmosphere[1].The company claims its plant at a yet-to-be determined site in Quebec,Canada,will be operational by 2027,sequestering 300 t of CO_(2) per day at full capacity.Equatic is already building a similar,but smaller,facility called Equatic-1 in Singapore(Fig.1)[2].That project,expected to be completed in 2025,will have the capacity to remove 10 t of CO_(2) per day.