Zhongshan Station (Antarctica)

Zhongshan Station
中山站
Antarctic base
Zhongshan Station in 2007
Zhongshan Station in 2007
Location of Zhongshan Station in Antarctica
Location of Zhongshan Station in Antarctica
Zhongshan Station
Location of Zhongshan Station in Antarctica
Coordinates: 69°22′25″S 76°22′18″E / 69.373587°S 76.371652°E / -69.373587; 76.371652
Country China
Location in AntarcticaLarsemann Hills
Prydz Bay
East Antarctica
Administered byPolar Research Institute of China
Established26 February 1989 (1989-02-26)
Elevation
[1]
11 m (36 ft)
Population
 (2017)[1]
 • Summer
60
 • Winter
17
UN/LOCODEAQ ZGN
TypeAll-year round
PeriodAnnual
StatusOperational
Activities
List
  • Glaciology
  • Geology
WebsiteChinese Arctic and Antarctic

Zhongshan Station (Chinese: 中山站; pinyin: Zhōngshān Zhàn) is the second Chinese research station in Antarctica and was opened on February 26, 1989.

Overview

Zhongshan Station is named after Sun Yat-sen, who served as the provisional first president of the Republic of China in 1912.[2] It is managed by the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC). It is located in the Larsemann Hills by Prydz Bay in East Antarctica, and is near the Russian Progress II Station and the Romanian Law-Racoviță-Negoiță Station.

The station can accommodate 60 summering personnel[1] and 25 wintering personnel. It is a base for research on marine, glaciological, geological, and atmospheric sciences and for expeditions inland, such as to the Kunlun Station at Dome A. It is supplied by annual visits of the support vessel Xue Long.[citation needed] The station also hosts a ground station build by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.[3]

History

Four years after establishing the Great Wall Station, China's first research base in Antarctica, Guo Kun led another expedition to Antarctica, with the mission to establish a second base. The team set out from Qingdao in November 1988 on the ship Jidi. After reaching Prydz Bay in Antarctica, the ship encountered a major icefall in the night of 14 January 1989.[4][5] She missed being directly hit by ice by just two or three meters, and became trapped by icebergs for seven days. Many team members wrote their wills and were ready to die. The icebergs shifted on the seventh day and temporarily created a 30-meter-wide opening, and the team escaped. The opening lasted for just two hours before being closed again.[4] The team proceeded to construct the Zhongshan Station at Prydz Bay in only 28 days, and it was opened on 26 February 1989.[4][5]

In January 2010, the station was visited by a delegation that included Xu Shaoshi, China's Minister for Land and Resources and Qu Tanzhou, director of the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Antarctic Station Catalogue (PDF) (catalogue). Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs. August 2017. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-473-40409-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  2. ^ Chinese Antarctic Zhongshan Station. 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  3. ^ Cadell, Cate; Perez del Carpio, Marcelo (November 21, 2023). "A growing global footprint for China's space program worries Pentagon". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  4. ^ a b c "南极长城站首任站长逝世 曾发誓"拼命也要建好站"". Xinhua. 2019-04-06. Archived from the original on 2019-04-08. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  5. ^ a b Liu Shiyao 刘诗瑶 (2019-04-10). "追记中国首次南极考察队长郭琨：一辈子惦记那片冰原". The Paper. Archived from the original on 2019-04-13. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  6. ^ Jo Chandler (2010-01-07). "China flags polar resource goals". The Age. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
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