China launches first monitoring station in Antarctica [Video]

China has announced that its first atmospheric monitoring station in Antarctica started operations this week, News.az reports citing foreign media.

Located in Larsmann Hills in East Antarctica, the monitoring station – known as the The Zhongshan National Atmospheric Background Station – will conduct ‘continuous and long-term operational observations of concentration changes in Antarctic atmospheric components’, according to China’s Meteorological Administration.

Studying the atmosphere in Antarctica will hopefully produce observation data with ‘unique geographical advantages and scientific value,’ said the director of the Institute of Global Change and Polar Meteorology at the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Ding Minghu.

This isn’t the first building that China has constructed in Antarctica. Back in February, the country opened a scientific research centre on the continent and has a further five research stations built between 1985 and 2014 – making it one of the most key players in the Antarctic across the past thirty years.

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