The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China has been regularly monitoring seawater quality in the waters around Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha islands. On Nansha Islands, the atmospheric environment monitoring station is already in formal operation, and the radiation environment automatic monitoring station has been completed and put into trial operation.

The Nansha Atmospheric Environment Monitoring Station has been officially up and running since May 2019, conducting automatic monitoring of conventional indicators of air quality and greenhouse gases in the region.

The radiation environment automatic monitoring station has been established recently and is now in trial operation. With online monitoring of absorbed dose rates in the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it provides timely information on the radiation level and its variation in the atmosphere in and near the South China Sea.

These new monitoring facilities filled in gaps of environmental monitoring for air and radiation in the South China Sea. They will help strengthen the ecological and environmental monitoring network in the region, providing a reliable source of information to reflect the region's atmospheric background and radiation environment, and thus contributing to better environmental governance in the South China Sea.

(Cover image via VCG)

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