China launched its first open marine big-data service platform, dubbed Ocean Cloud, a ministry official said. Ocean Cloud is a national online service platform for marine data and information products, said director of the marine early warning and monitoring department with the Ministry of Natural Resources Wang Hua, according to Xinhua. It works to pool national data from the global ocean three-dimensional observation network, facilitate marine information connectivity among departments, and boost global marine information exchange. The platform can further strengthen marine data integration services, unify the technical standards for marine data sharing and circulation, and improve the application quality of marine data products, Wang said. He also announced the release of an open catalog on marine data involving seven disciplines and 83 categories of elements in the ocean field, integrating China's independent marine data, the research and development of marine information products, and global marine e nvironmental data. The data in the catalog can be obtained and used through Ocean Cloud, Wang said. In recent years, China has increasingly channeled energy into the protection of its marine ecology and environment. Source: Qatar News Agency