China embarks on 40th Antarctic expedition, new research station to be expected

China's 40th Antarctic scientific expedition team set sail from the home port in east China's Shanghai on Wednesday morning.

The team, comprising some 460 staff from more than 80 domestic institutions, will return in April 2024 after five months of expedition.

It will be the first time that China's Antarctic scientific expedition is supported by three vessels, namely the two polar icebreakers Xuelong and Xuelong-2, and a cargo ship named Tianhui.

The icebreakers will mainly carry out scientific exploration, personnel transportation and logistics replenishment, while the cargo ship, which departed from Zhangjiagang City, east China's Jiangsu Province, will transport materials for the construction of the new scientific research station – one of the major tasks of the expedition.

The new station, located in the coastal area of the Ross Sea, will be the country's fifth Antarctic research station, the third perennial one following the Great Wall and Zhongshan stations, and the first facing the Pacific Ocean sector.

It will be built for multi-disciplinary observation, monitoring and scientific research work on atmospheric environment, marine basic environment, biological ecology and other areas.

Once completed, it is expected to accommodate 80 expedition personnel in summer and 30 in winter.

The expedition will investigate the impacts and response of climate change on Antarctic ecosystems and conduct in-depth study of the role Antarctica plays in global climate change.

It also features international cooperation, such as cooperative research in the frontier fields of Antarctic science and the Enderby Land aerial survey with Norway, Australia and other countries.

Cooperation will also be carried out in logistics support with the U.S., the UK, Australia, Italy, South Korea, Russia, Chile and other countries.