China to build two more Antarctic bases

CHINA: China is to build two extra research stations in Antarctica, where it currently has three facilities, the State Oceanic Administration confirmed.

A summer base, to be used between December and March, will be built between two of its existing stations -- Kunlun and Zhongshan -- on the frozen continent, the Xinhua news agency said. Kunlun is on the summit of the East Antarctic ice sheet while Zhongshan is 1,280 kilometres away on the Antarctic coast.

The new station will be used to study geology, glaciers, geomagnetism and atmospheric science, Xinhua added.

A new all-year base will also be built in Victoria Land, on the Ross Sea, for multi-disciplinary research on bio-ecology and satellite remote sensing, it said.

An SOA official confirmed the Xinhua report to AFP. An expedition team is carrying out site inspections and both are to be finished by 2015, the report added. China's third existing base, the Great Wall Station, is on King George island off the Antarctic Peninsula.

AFP