The South China Sea Annual Meeting 2025 (SCSAM 2025) was recently held at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) from October 10 to 12.

The event brought together Zexun WEI, Deputy Director General of the First Institute of Oceanography (FIO), Ministry of Natural Resources; Ling ZHANG, University Council Vice-Chairperson of SUSTech; and nearly 200 experts, scholars, and students from universities and research institutes worldwide.

Since its inception, the South China Sea Annual Meeting has been held eleven times, establishing itself as a highly influential academic platform in China’s ocean science community. Continuing its tradition of academic excellence, interdisciplinary collaboration, and focus on cutting-edge research, this year’s meeting featured a youth forum, keynote presentations, thematic sessions, and poster exhibitions.

The discussions covered a wide range of topics, including ocean dynamic processes, remote sensing observation, artificial intelligence applications, and marine ecological and eco-environmental impacts. Participants exchanged insights on multi-scale ocean dynamics, ocean climate evolution, biogeochemical cycles, marine disaster forecasting, and intelligent ocean observation in the South China Sea and surrounding regions.

In his remarks, Vice-Chairperson Ling ZHANG highlighted SUSTech’s long-term commitment to advancing marine science research and interdisciplinary integration, noting the University’s significant progress in recent years.

He emphasized that SUSTech will continue to strengthen collaboration with domestic and international partners, tackle major scientific challenges in the marine field, and contribute to innovation in ocean science and the sustainable development of the blue economy. Vice-Chairperson ZHANG also reaffirmed SUSTech’s goal of promoting South China Sea research and supporting the country’s “Maritime Power” strategy.

During the keynote session, leading scholars in the field of oceanography delivered presentations on topics such as climate evolution in the South China Sea and the Northwest Pacific, multi-scale ocean dynamics, and intelligent ocean observation and forecasting. They shared recent advances in observation technologies, theoretical modeling, and numerical simulations, providing new perspectives for understanding ocean systems in the South China Sea, addressing climate change, and promoting sustainable marine economic development.

At the youth forum, 38 young scholars presented their research work on submesoscale processes, ocean eddies, typhoon impacts, internal wave mixing, and AI-driven prediction techniques. The forum showcased the innovative and strong research capabilities of the new generation of marine scientists.

SCSAM 2025 was co-hosted by the South China Sea Annual Meeting Organizing Committee and the Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, and co-organized by the Center for Complex Flows and Soft Matter Research at SUSTech and the Shenzhen Association for Artificial Intelligence (SAAI).