What does the "new member" of my country's Antarctic research station look like? Here comes the rendering, full of technological sense!

On the morning of November 1, the 40th Chinese Antarctic Scientific Expedition organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources set out on a scientific expedition lasting more than five months. The most prominent highlight of this expedition is the construction of the new Ross Sea Station. The new station is the third permanent research station after the Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station, the fifth research station in Antarctica, and the first research station facing the Pacific sector. What does my country's fifth Antarctic research station look like? Here are the high-definition renderings!

Image source: CCTV News official Weibo

Why is the polar region determined to be an ideal place for scientific expeditions?

In 1842, despite seal hunters' predictions that the journey was dangerous, Englishman James Clark Ross led two sailing ships from Hobart, Australia, successfully crossed the heavy ice and entered an area of ​​sea that is now named after his surname - the Ross Sea.

The Ross Sea is a place of pure natural beauty and one of the most amazing places in Antarctica. It has a completely peaceful side, with gentle sunshine in midsummer and fierce winds, heavy ice and freezing temperatures in the blink of an eye.

In 2009, the 25th Chinese Antarctic Expedition built the first inland Antarctic research station, Kunlun Station, in the Dome A area, realizing the strategic leap of my country's Antarctic scientific research from the edge of the Antarctic continent to the inland. Now, the new Antarctic research station, Ross Sea Station, will be built and will also become the first research station facing the Pacific sector.

The Ross Sea is one of the southernmost seas on Earth that can be reached by ships, and it is also the traditional route for humans to reach the Antarctic continent and the South Pole by ship. Since the 29th Chinese Antarctic expedition, the expedition team has conducted large-scale, systematic and scientific site selection work from the entrance to the Ross Sea to the southernmost tip of the Ross Sea, and finally decided on Endersberg Island.

The Xuelong 2 is sailing in the Pacific Ocean.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Shiping

The west coast of the Ross Sea is the "ice factory", the place where Antarctic sea ice is generated, and one of the key areas where the interaction between the earth system spheres is most concentrated and intense. Sea ice has a significant impact on the changes in the entire earth system. More than 40% of the world's deep sea water comes from Antarctica. The Ross Sea is not only the origin of Antarctic bottom water, but also an important ecological security area for the world.

The new station is surrounded by many famous volcanoes such as Mount Erebus, as well as the Ross Ice Shelf, the largest ice shelf in Antarctica. It is known as a "natural laboratory" for studying energy exchange, material exchange and interaction between spheres in the Earth system and for understanding global climate change.

Scientists hope to use this to understand the functions, communities and evolution of Antarctic biological ecosystems, and to carry out multi-sphere and multi-disciplinary observation, monitoring and scientific research work on the atmospheric environment, basic marine environment, biological ecology, etc.

On November 1, the Xuelong and Xuelong 2 set sail from the dock of China's polar expedition base in China and headed for Antarctica. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Jiansong

How will the five research stations divide the work?

Since the establishment of the Great Wall Station in 1985, China now has four Antarctic research stations, namely the Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station, two permanent scientific research stations, and the Kunlun Station and Taishan Station, two summer scientific research stations.

Today's Ross Sea Station will be the third generation of modern research station in Antarctica. After that, my country will initially build a national Antarctic observation network covering air-based, shore-based, ship-based, sea-based, ice-based, and seabed-based, and an Antarctic research support platform of "one ship, four stations, and one base", which will basically meet the comprehensive support needs of Antarctic research activities.

Before the expedition team set out, they had completed the domestic custom processing, pre-assembly, inspection and acceptance of the materials for the new station construction. It is expected that the expedition team will arrive at the Ross Sea hub station area in mid-December to carry out unloading and installation work, and plans to complete the construction of the new station within 60 days.

People expect that with the launch of the "Double Dragons Polar Exploration", Chinese scientists will make new breakthroughs in innovative research in these fields and make new contributions to understanding, protecting and utilizing Antarctica.

Comprehensive sources: Xinhuanet, CCTV News, China Youth Network, etc.