HKUST Unveils WavyOcean 2.0: A Next-Generation Ocean Platform for Marine Research and Sustainability

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is pleased to announce the launch of WavyOcean 2.0, an immersive digital twin platform of regional earth system. This upgraded platform deeply integrates digital technologies with innovative research in Earth system, creating the first "dynamic digital mirror" for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) and China's coastal regions. With these enhancement, WavyOcean 2.0 offers the latest data on ocean currents, marine ecology, atmospheric conditions, and the distribution of rivers and pollutants in terrestrial watersheds, along with comprehensive data analysis tools and immersive visualization interactive functions. 

Empowering Marine Research and Policy with Advanced Data Insights

Led by Prof. GAN Jianping, Head and Chair Professor of the Department of Ocean Science, this platform not only promotes marine research, but also provides policymakers with precise data support to balance marine conservation with socio-economic development. The platform further delivers vivid visualizations to diverse societal stakeholders.

 " WavyOcean 2.0 represents a leap forward in diagnosing and understanding the complex and dynamic marine environments and the regional ocean-land-atmosphere Earth system. By integrating multi-source data with novel immersive display technologies, our team has expanded the boundaries of scientific exploration and provided concrete imagery, videos, analyses, and data support for the marine economies, ecological protection, policy-making, and public services," said Prof Gan. 

Innovative Breakthroughs in Ocean Visualization

WavyOcean 2.0 synergizes Earth simulators, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Building Information Modeling (BIM), and digital twin technologies with advanced statistical algorithms. This integration provides users with comprehensive foundational data support for marine, terrestrial, and atmospheric studies. It allows for efficient and flexible data exploration, variable analysis, and dynamic visualization, significantly enhancing the understanding of the past, present, and future of the Greater Bay Area's Earth systems. Its three major innovative breakthroughs are particularly noteworthy:

1.    Global Connectivity: Achieving the first three-dimensional coupling modeling of "ocean-land-atmosphere."
The model covers nearshore currents, biogeochemical cycles, terrestrial processes in the Pearl River Basin, runoff evolution, and atmospheric precipitation. This overcomes traditional model fragmentation that separates sea, land, and atmospheric elements, while establishing a dynamic cross-scale and multi-element regional Earth system.

2.    Seamless Virtual Navigation: Introducing a three-dimensional immersive interactive experience.
Supports a macro perspective of the Bay Area's marine and atmospheric dynamics, while allowing for a detailed analysis of variable evolution and the interconnections of the ocean-land-atmosphere system, enabling multi-dimensional exploration.

3.    Derivable Analytical Variables for: Unlocking the scientific codes behind the data.
Emphasizes the platform's "tool-oriented" characteristics, providing precise support for scientific analysis and aiding in uncovering the underlying patterns behind the data.

Supported by the Earth-HK Areas of Excellence Scheme Project and the Center for Ocean Research in Hong Kong and Macau (CORE), WavyOcean 2.0 welcomes collaboration. Interested experts and scholars may contact Prof. Gan Jianping at earthhk@ust.hk for platform access or arranging visits to HKUST for exchange.