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China sets up tide-examination station in Antarctica

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-23 09:20

ZHONGSHAN STATION, Antarctica: China's 26th Antarctic expedition team has set up a permanent, real time data transmission tide-examination station in waters close to China's Antarctic Zhongshan Station to monitor the change of the sea level, a Chinese scientist said.

The new monitoring station will also provide frequently-updated data for the analysis of the global climate change, said Huang Jifeng, a team member in charge of the program.

It will not only help China's research program on the change of the sea level, but also accumulate data which could be shared with other countries for the analysis of the change of the global sea levels and facilitate China's research of the global climate change, Huang said.

The station is mainly made up of a set of automatic tide-examination instrument system on the seabed, including a seabed water level meter, terrestrial data recording and processing equipment, and data transmission cable connecting marine and terrestrial equipment.

China set up the first permanent tide-examination station near the Zhongshan Station in 1999, but difficulties in data transmission have impeded the current research, said Huang, a researcher from Wuhan University's Antarctic center.

The new station's real time data transmission supported by the cable connection could facilitate research institutions' monitoring and analyses, said Huang.

It will help provide timely tide forecast for polar region icebreakers, which transport materials to the Zhongshan Station each year, Huang added.