earth science

Ocean colonization

Ocean colonization is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ocean colonization rather than just read about it. In short: Ocean colonization (also blue colonization or ocean grabbing) is the exploitation, settlement or territorial claim of the ocean and the oceanic crust. Ocean colonization has been identified critically as a form of colonization and colonialism, particularly in the light of growing exploitive and destructive blue economy ocean development, such as deep sea mining, calls for blue justice have been made.

Key takeaways

Ocean colonization belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ocean colonization to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ocean colonization from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ocean colonization (also blue colonization or ocean grabbing) is the exploitation, settlement or territorial claim of the ocean and the oceanic crust. Ocean colonization has been identified critically as a form of colonization and colonialism, particularly in the light of growing exploitive and destructive blue economy ocean development, such as deep sea mining, calls for blue justice have been made. Ocean colonization as ocean settlement, or seasteading, being the extending of human settlement to the ocean, has been identified as settler colonial "tech-colonialism" at sea. Such settlements have been suggested to be established with floating accommodation platforms, such as very large cruise ships or artificial islands, establishing seasteads, or with underwater habitats, employing offshore construction, with arguments for floating structures, as they are generally less impacted by natural disasters. Ocean settlement with the construction of artificial structures in aquatic environments though can also be disruptive to natural marine ecosystems. Territorial claims are another and continuing international issue, with sovereign states advancing claims through developing and claiming uncontrolled islands, such as in the South China Sea and ocean settlements possibly establishing sovereign states. Ocean colonization has been advocated for and compared to space colonization, particularly as a proving ground for the latter. In particular, the issue of sovereignty may bear many similarities between ocean and space colonization; adjustments to social life in harsh circumstances would apply similarly to the ocean and to space; and many technologies may have uses in both environments.

Law The law of the sea internationally negotiated in the latter half of the 20th century states that the ocean is the "common heritage of humanity". From this the need for an international regulation regime has been identified and negotiated for. As the ocean was seen as a technologically optimistic futurist reservoir for economic growth, a model of internationally shared exploitation through a body called the "Enterprise" clashed with private commercial exploitation perspectives. In addition to this economic dimension, environmental protection considerations have produced calls for rights of nature for the ocean.

Construction technologies

Underwater

Underwater habitats are examples of underwater structures. Submerged structures are sunken, air-tight vessels that either sit at an intermediate position or attached to the ocean floor that create an underwater metropolis for residences and businesses. Ocean Spiral City is a US$26 billion Japanese project, with research and design under way to potentially house 5,000 people; this may be a reality by 2030.

Offshore

Offshore construction, in which humans live over oceans in locations open to the atmosphere, is an intensive area of focus compared to underwater habitats due to much lower costs and greater safety.

Land reclamation Land reclamation is the process of relocating rock or placing cement in a sea, ocean or river bed, to extend or create a new area of livable land in the ocean. This process involves creating a solid base on the sea floor and further building upon it with materials such as clay, sand and soil to form a new island-like structure above the water surface. It therefore expands the area for potential development, supporting the erection of buildings or other necessary urban developments in response to support human activities, by utilizing this otherwise untouched space for more "productive" uses. This ocean colonization technique is the most developed in terms of planning and implementation.

Examples

Palm Jumeirah

Palm Jumeirah is the main of three artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to be developed. The name is due to its resemblance to a palm tree when viewed aerially, and is both culturally and symbolically relevant to the coastal city. This land reclamation project began in 2001 and involved the movement of 94 million cubic metres of sand and 5.5 million cubic metres of rock offshore in the Persian Gulf, to allow the development of luxury beachfront villas for both residential and commercial purposes.

Kansai International Airport Kansai International Airport located in Osaka Bay, Japan was created in 1987, due to overcrowding at the nearby Osaka Airport. Developers suggested Japan's mountainous terrain is not conducive to the development of the flat space required for an airport, and thus developed an artificial island in the bay, with a connecting bridge to support both travel and freight arrivals and departures.

Portier Cove Portier Cove is an ecodistrict extended off the coast of Monaco and designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the area. The 125 m-long extension project restarted in 2011 and plans to provide a hectare of space for retail, parks, offices, apartments and private villas, to support the nation's growing population.

Floating structures

Very large floating structures (VLFS) or seasteads are platforms on pontoons, designed to float on the surface of the ocean or sea to house permanent residents. They have a large surface area and are designed not to be bound to a certain government but rather to form their own communities through clusters of floating structures. This type of technology has only been theorized and is yet to be developed, however, a variety of companies have investment project plans underway.

Proposed designs

Seasteading Seasteading refers to building buoyant, permanent structures built to float on the ocean's surface to support human settlements and colonies. The idea, developed by Friedman and Gramlich who founded The Seasteading Institute, is now defined in the Oxford English Dictionary. The pair received $500k in funding from PayPal founder Peter Thiel, to begin designing and constructing their idea in 2008.

Oceanix City Architecture company BIG proposed a design called Oceanix City, involving a series of inhabitable floating villages clustered together to form an archipelago that could house 10,000 residents. The design was developed in response to the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and an increase in hurricanes in Polynesia, that threaten to eradicate many tropical island nations. The design also outlines its intention to incorporate predominantly renewable energy sources such as wind and water.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ocean colonization

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ocean colonization claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ocean colonization before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ocean colonization ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ocean colonization

In research: Ocean colonization appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ocean colonization in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ocean colonization is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Colonisation by location, Future colonization, Oceans, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ocean colonization outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ocean colonization in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ocean colonization means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ocean colonization out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ocean colonization in simple terms?

Why does Ocean colonization matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ocean colonization?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ocean colonization.