Chinese Antarctic Zhongshan Station

Built on Feb.26, 1989, the station was named after Sun Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen)，who was the outstanding forerunner of the democratic revolution in modern China. The station located at the Larsemann Hills who was a great pioneer in China’s democratic revolution and Comrade Deng Xiaoping gave his handwriting station name. Lying on the Larsemann Hills of Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica at 69^o22′24″S, 76^o22′40″E, it is 12553. 160 km away from Beijing, the capital of China, with which it has an azimuth of 32^o30′50″. The Larsemann Hills where the station is situated lies within the Antarctic Circle along the southeast coast of Prydz Bay, several hundreds of kilometers away from the Amery Ice Shelf, Grove Mountains and Prince Charles Mountains in the southwest, hence an ideal area in which to carry out Antarctic marine and continental scientific studies. It is colder and drier in the Zhongshan Station than in the Great Wall Station. The lowest air temperature in winter is 33.6℃ below zero, the continual day time are 54 days, the continual night time are 58 days, and the number of gale days is over 174 with a maximum wind speed of 43.6 m/s. Not far from the Zhongshan Station are the Law Base of Australia and the Progress Station of Russia.

The Station has 15 buildings with a floor space of 2700 m², including office building, dormitory building, meteorology building and scientific research building, as well as power generators building and garages, etc. The living facilities at the station are completed and can meet the needs of the expeditioners in their work and life. The Station can accommodate 60 summering personnel and 25 wintering personnel. The rooms in the dormitory are furnished multifunctional soft beds, sofas, writing desks, wardrobes, etc. Kept at 16~20℃, the room temperature is suitable. The full automatic cold and hot water supply system at the station can guarantee the cold and hot water supply all the year around without interruption. In the shower room, the supply of hot water at not lower than 40℃ is ensured that the expeditioners may take a shower at any time. The Station owns 14 vehicles of all kinds, which can meet the needs of transportation, construction and scientific research. The power generators building is equipped with three 150 kw and one 30 kw diesel generating sets which can satisfy the needs of uninterrupted power use for life, work and scientific research in the station area. Furnished with various medical apparatuses such as shadowless lamp and multifunctional operating table, the clinic at the station can perform ordinary small operations, There are table tennis, billiards, and various kinds of integrated sports facilities as well as audiovisual equipment, where the expeditioners may go in for recreational and sports activities as well as other keep-fit activities. The communication room of the station is provided with 2 sets of 1.6 kw single sideband transmitter and full-waveband receiver as well as terminal equipment of the maritime satellite, which can not only satisfy the communication and contact between the station and Beijing, but also carry out written language and picture transmission and telephone business throughout the world. Inside the scientific research building there are labs of geology and biology, which are equipped with appropriate analytical instruments and equipment. The meteorological observation field, solid tide observation room, seismic and geomagnetic absolute value observation room and upper atmosphere physics observation buildings are all furnished with appropriate equipment and instruments for scientific observations. Like the Great Wall Station, the Zhongshan Station is also provided with a sewage and rubbish treatment system. In addition, the generators are equipped with smoke eliminating and noise reduction devices, which can reduce the discharge of waste gas by generators and prevent pollution of the atmospheric environment.

The routine observation items carried out by the Chinese Antarctic Expedition in the Zhongshan Station all the year round include meteorology, ionosphere, upper atmosphere physics, geomagnetism and seismology. During the Antarctic summer seasons, in-situ scientific investigations are also made on geology, biology, meteorology, glaciology, polar physics, environmental science, human medicine and marine science.