In April this year, China's 40th Antarctic expedition completed its mission and returned to China. At present, researchers are conducting follow-up research on the results of this Antarctic expedition.
The reporter visited the Polar Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory
Polar atmospheric research is one of the important contents of the Antarctic expedition, and the scientific expedition personnel have completed the construction and operation and maintenance of the Antarctic meteorological observation station, the atmospheric chemistry observation of Zhongshan Station, and collected relevant atmospheric samples.
When this reporter recently came to the Polar Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, the staff here were analyzing these gas samples. The atmospheric samples contain different gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and sulfur hexafluoride, and after the concentration results are analyzed, the researchers record them one by one, and then compare them with the previous year's data, and finally come up with new research results.
The reporter learned that the global atmospheric methane has been systematically recorded since 1983, and the observation of the Zhongshan station on the mainland began in 2010, and since then researchers have carried out long-term continuous follow-up research.
Researchers have observed that in addition to methane gas, which is increasing year by year, the concentration of carbon dioxide in Antarctica is also increasing year by year, with carbon dioxide increasing by 1.9 parts per million per year from 2010 to 2022.
Constant monitoring of changes in the Antarctic atmosphere is carried out in a variety of ways
Over the years, mainland scientists have carried out continuous research on Antarctic gases, monitoring the observational data obtained, which is of great significance for the study of Antarctic climate change and its impact on the global climate.
So how are these invisible and untouchable atmospheres collected?
Zhao Shoudong, an associate researcher at the Institute of Global Change and Polar Research of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, said that our main job is to use an air sampler to collect two bottles of air samples in Antarctica every week to two weeks. If a person is nearby during sampling, the exhaled air will be collected and the purity of the sample will be affected, so it should be erected to a height of 5 meters and the local air of Antarctica will be collected.
At present, the investigation and research of the Antarctic atmosphere in mainland China is carried out in a variety of ways at the same time, including real-time online monitoring of Zhongshan Station, on-site sampling and analysis of Zhongshan Station, online monitoring and satellite transmission of research ships, and real-time monitoring of Beijing laboratory.
In addition to monitoring the composition of the atmosphere, the station also conducts manual observation and reporting of surface meteorology four times a day. These data are required to be sent back to China at a fixed time every day, and then reported to the World Meteorological Organization by the China Meteorological Administration.
The reporter learned that in 2008, the mainland established an atmospheric background monitoring system at the Zhongshan Station in Antarctica, which continued to continuously monitor the parameters of greenhouse gases, total ozone and black carbon aerosols around the Zhongshan Station, and used professional gas storage cylinders to sample and systematically collect greenhouse gas samples, which supplemented the gap in the field of polar atmospheric chemistry research on the mainland.
Source: CCTV news client