Advances of geophysics in 2001

The development of geophysics in the year 2001 is reviewed and a perspective look into the future is presented briefly. As a main method of providing information and data for the earth's interior, geophysics is bound to become one of the important subjects of the research of earth system science. The importance and application of geophysical technique, like the modern research of earth and space science, and the inspection of environment, to the anti terrorism campaign and military affairs are also discussed. With the increasing shortage of energy sources, a second round of oil and natural gas exploration should be accomplished in China, and the recent research on gas hydrates plays an important role in solving this problem potentially.