China News Service, Beijing, February 7 (Reporter Ruan Yulin) On February 7, China’s fifth Antarctic research station Qinling Station opened, filling the gap in China’s research in the Ross Sea area of Antarctica.
The Ross Sea is a large bay in the South Pacific that penetrates into Antarctica. It is one of the southernmost seas on earth that ships can reach. It is also the traditional route for humans to reach the Antarctic continent and the Antarctic point by ship. The new research station is located along the coast of the Ross Sea area, close to the Ross Ice Shelf, the largest in Antarctica. This area is located in the rapid ice flow area of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea Sea Ice Triangle. It is the lithosphere, cryosphere and biosphere of the Antarctic region. Areas where typical physical geographical units such as the atmosphere and the atmosphere are concentrated and interact. It is a sensitive area to global change and an ideal place for polar scientific investigation.
On February 7, China’s fifth Antarctic research station, Qinling Station, opened, filling the gap in China’s research in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Natural Resources)
On November 1, 2023, China's 40th Antarctic Scientific Expedition set off from the domestic base terminal in Shanghai and rushed to Antarctica; on December 7, 2023, the expedition team arrived at Ross Sea, Antarctica, and Fort Island. Construction work on the new station began. On February 7, China’s fifth Antarctic research station, Qinling Station, was completed.
Zhang Beichen, leader of China's 40th Antarctic Scientific Expedition, said that the team members who built the new station upheld the polar spirit and overcame unfavorable factors such as tight time, heavy tasks, and harsh construction environment, and successfully completed the task of building the station.
"The construction of the research station is the highlight of China's 40th Antarctic expedition," Zhang Beichen said. The new Ross Sea station is the first wintering research station built by China in the new era. The completion of the research station coincides with the 40th anniversary of China's polar expedition, which is of epoch-making historical significance.
The west coast of the Ross Sea has one of the harshest climate environments in Antarctica. Faced with many challenges, the construction of Qinling Station fully took into account the special natural environmental conditions of Antarctica, and the building adopted a prefabricated and modular construction system.
On February 7, China’s fifth Antarctic research station, Qinling Station, opened, filling the gap in China’s research in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Natural Resources)
"Compared with the previous inspection station, the overall design and construction of the new station has a higher degree of application of digital and assembly technologies." Liu Yanhui, consultant chief architect of China Architectural Design Institute and chief design director of the new station project, said in an interview with reporters that the new station The main structure of the station is built using a fully assembled steel structure. The outer envelope adopts prefabricated curtain wall units. The internal standard use units, such as office, scientific research, accommodation, etc., adopt a factory modular fully decorated construction model, with a modularization rate of 45 %, most of the indoor fixed furniture, equipment and pipelines in the module are prefabricated in the factory, greatly reducing the on-site workload.
In addition, before on-site construction, in addition to full digital simulation construction, the entire main structure and some modules, curtain wall units, etc. were pre-assembled in China to ensure the feasibility and accuracy of actual construction. These technical measures played a very important role in increasing the speed of on-site construction.
The design concept of the main body of the Qinling Station is derived from the Southern Cross navigation used by Zheng He on his voyages to the West. It has a construction area of 5,244 square meters and can accommodate 80 summer expedition personnel and 30 winter expedition personnel. Qinling Station uses lightweight and high-strength construction technology and materials, which can withstand ultra-low temperatures of minus 60 degrees Celsius and strong corrosion in the coastal environment.
Liu Yanhui said that the new station adopts an energy microgrid management system that combines renewable energy and traditional energy, giving priority to clean energy such as wind energy and solar energy. Wind energy, solar energy and other new energy sources account for more than 60%, and integrates microgrid monitoring, energy Advanced technologies such as management platforms make the operation of the inspection station more environmentally friendly.
On February 7, China’s fifth Antarctic research station, Qinling Station, opened, filling the gap in China’s research in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Natural Resources)
China's fifth Antarctic scientific research station will be a year-round scientific research station that can independently support multi-disciplinary comprehensive scientific research projects on land, ocean, atmosphere, glaciers and other areas.
According to reports, in the next step, the relevant supporting facilities of the new research station will be further improved and the installation and deployment of various scientific monitoring facilities will be completed one by one. (over)