China opened its first air-sea interaction and climate change laboratory in Qingdao, Shandong Province, to closely observe climate change on the sea and to provide scientific solutions.

The newly-built lab in the eastern coastal province, funded and run by the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) First Institute of Oceanography (FIO), would conduct research on climate influencing phenomena of mass, energy, momentum and radiation fluxes across the sea, FIO head Ma Deyi said in the China Ocean News on Thursday.

The lab's research topics mainly included the study of concentration of size distribution of marine aerosol in the boundary layer over the sea surface and in the coastal zone. It would also study atmospheric optical depth over coastal zones and open sea, and modeling of the light field in the atmosphere and ocean, Ma said.

The lab would also act as a nerve center for an underway oceanic monitoring network. This was expected to be completed next year for observing climate change in the Bohai Sea, the South China Sea and sea areas, said vice SOA chief Wang Fei.

"We'll strengthen our capability in forecasting weather and analyzing air-sea interactions in deep seas," he said.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a new report on the phenomenon earlier this year. It warned the world's average temperature, if left unchecked, could rise by as much as two to four degrees centigrade by 2080. This would probably trigger more natural disasters endangering human beings.

Representatives from 180 countries convened earlier this month in Bali, Indonesia, agreeing on a clear agenda for the key climate change issues to be negotiated up to 2009. These included actions for adapting to the negative consequences of climate change, methods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, methods to deploy climate-friendly technologies and financing both adaptation and mitigation measures.

Sea-weather observation and air-sea interactions analysis were effective in monitoring global climate change.

World-leading organizations, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and top universities, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology, have already focused on air-sea interaction to know more about climate change.

(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2007)