BEIJING, June 30 Chinese scientists are gearing up for a trip to
the North Pole in midJuly to explore the arctic, oceanic officials
said yesterday.
The expedition, the largest ever of its kind launched by China,
will last six months and include research into polar meteorology,
environmental monitoring and sea ice.
A team of 21 Chinese scientists will soon leave for the Yellow
River Station, the country's first scientific research station in
the Arctic area. The station was set up last July on the Norwegian
island of Spitsbergen.
Preliminary research was carried out in areas near the station
last year and an overall survey will begin this year, said Yang Huigen,
deputy director of the Shanghai-based Polar Research Institute of China
and the scientist leading the expedition.
"China's scientific research needs innovation and should avoid set
patterns, otherwise, it will end up imitating others, rather than
leading the field," said Yang who is an expert who has been to the
Arctic four times and to the Antarctic once.
During this year's Arctic trip, Yang will continue his aurora
observations and research that has already won him two national academic
prizes. Yang discovered that the aurora occurs more frequently at noon
than at any other time of day during winter in the Antarctic.
According to Qu Tanzhou, director of the Chinese Arctic and
Antarctic Office of the State Oceanic Administration, the National
Development and Reform Commission has endorsed an ambitious plan
to increase the country's polar scientific research.
The plan is being backed with 860 million yuan (US$105 million)
and work is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
China joined the Ny-Alesund Science Managers Committee, known as
the "United Nations of Arctic studies" in April, giving weight to the
country's claim to be at the forefront of Arctic research.
China began its research in the Arctic area in the 1990s and carried
out two scientific observations in the Arctic area in 1999 and 2003.
Over the last two decades, the country has organized 20 Antarctic
expeditions.
(Source: China Daily)
