China said its first atmospheric monitoring station in Antarctica started operations this week, a move aimed at helping observe changes on the southern continent and supporting the global response to climate change.

Like the United States, China has been expanding its presence in Antarctica and in the Arctic to explore polar resources.

The Zhongshan National Atmospheric Background Station will conduct “continuous and long-term operational observations of concentration changes in Antarctic atmospheric components,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Meteorological Administration as saying.

The station is located in Larsmann Hills in East Antarctica.

Polar regions are “amplifiers” of global climate change, said Ding Minghu, director of the Institute of Global Change and Polar Meteorology at the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences.

He said the station’s observation data would have “unique geographical advantages and scientific value” which would aid the study of the impact of human activities on the environment.

China in February opened its Ross Sea scientific research station in Antarctica. It also has five other research stations in Antarctica that were built between 1985 and 2014.

(Reuters)