China builds Antarctic outpost to study pristine Ross Sea environment
- The new permanent base is the country’s third on the continent and will house up to 80 researchers
- Scientists will use it to study the world’s biggest marine protected area
The station is the country’s first on the west coast of the Ross Sea, a deep bay in Antarctica off the Southern Ocean, and will be able to house 80 researchers in summer and 30 in winter, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“The Ross Sea is a large bay in the South Pacific Ocean that penetrates deep into Antarctica,” station designer Zhu He told CCTV.
“It preserves one of the last intact marine ecosystems on Earth and is ideal for the study of energy and material exchange in the Earth’s systems, marine life, and global climate change.”
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The Ross Sea region has the world’s largest marine protected area, covering more than a million square kilometres and home to some rare species such as “unique sponges that live for up to 500 years”, according to the New Zealand foreign ministry.
