China completed its 39th expedition to the South Pole in April. The missions of the expedition were to conduct crew changes and material reinforcement at two of China's Antarctic stations, as well as research on global climate change.
Since 1984, when it started to organize expeditions to the South Pole, the country has established a serious polar observing system. In this context, there are icebreaker research ships, fixed-wing aircraft and an autonomously functioning underwater robot, according to Liu Jiaqi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, with reference to a new report.
Over almost 40 years of research, China has studied the ecological environment, climatic evolution and geology of the region; the result was the first topographical map of inner Antarctica.
China has established four research stations in the Antarctic region. These are the Great Wall, Zhongshan, Kunlun and Taishan stations; Now the fifth is being built. This new research station is located on an undescribable island on Terra Nova Bay in the Ross Sea and is being built for the purpose of observing and protecting the environment. In addition, the station will be used as a base for conducting research, rescue and emergency situations. On the other hand, the new station will fill the gap as it covers the Atlantic and Indian Ocean directions of Great Wall and Zhongshan respectively.
Since China is a party to the Antarctic Treaty signed in 1958, the country's activities in this region are limited to peaceful purposes. Now the new station will also be equipped with only a helipad and an icebreaker dock, where the focus will be on peaceful targeted research activity.