Today, July 28, marks the 20th anniversary of China's Arctic Yellow River Station. Established in 2004, the Yellow River Station is China's first Arctic research station, located in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.

The station is located at 78 degrees, 55 minutes north latitude, approximately 1,231 kilometers from the North Pole, and is one of the northernmost human settlements on Earth. China is the eighth country to set up an Arctic research station on the archipelago.

Over the past two decades, the Yellow River Station has supported more than 250 scientific research projects, and hosted over 660 expedition members.

Scientists at the station conduct monitoring and research in many areas, including marine ecology, terrestrial ecology, space physics, glacier mass-balance and motion, atmospheric physics and chemistry and geographic information observation.

The Yellow River Station has an area of 576 square meters with accommodation for 18 people. In summer the mean temperature of the Arctic Yellow River Station is 4.3 degrees Celsius and the highest temperature is 19.6 degrees Celsius. In winter, the mean temperature is -10.8 degrees Celsius and the lowest temperature is -35.1 degrees Celsius.

Chinese expedition teams are also collaborating with their Norwegian counterparts in joint investigation and research on Arctic environmental pollutants.