ARCTIC PORTAL.org

China’s membership in the International Arctic Science Committee in 1996 marked its more active participation and wider international cooperation in scientific research in the Arctic.

In 1999, the first Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE) reached the Arctic Ocean with the icebreaker Xuelong (Snow Dragon). In 2004, China built the Arctic Yellow River Station in Ny-Ålesund in the Spitsbergen Archipelago. Up to now, China has carried out eight scientific expeditions in the Arctic Ocean, some of which quite a few international scientists were invited to participate, and conducted survey and research at the Yellow River Station for 14 years. Especially, China annually launched one research cruise to the Arctic Ocean since 2016. The icebreaker Xuelong, departed from Shanghai on 20 July 2018, is conducting the survey of the 9th CHINARE.

On January 26, 2018, the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China published a white paper titled “China’s Arctic Policy”, the full text can be download here: http://english.gov.cn/archive/white_paper/2018/01/26/content_281476026660336.htm

Advances in Polar Science (APS) is an international, peer-reviewed and open-access journal sponsored by the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC). It is a quarterly journal published in March, June, September, and December, and circulated internationally (ISSN 1674-9928, CN 31-2050/P). Articles published in APS are free of charge with generous funding from PRIC, and freely accessible on the web as soon as they are released (http://www.aps-polar.org ). A new category of paper, the Opinion Editorial (Op-Ed) was introduced in 2017. This provides a forum to comment on the status and/or deficiencies of any aspect of polar science, to reflect on recent innovation or progress, and to promote internationally collaborative polar science projects.

These years, APS as a platform is trying to raise international awareness of Chinese polar research and to facilitate collaboration between China and other nations in polar science, and to build both inter-disciplinary and bi-polar links within our research community. Generally, APS publish one or two “Special Issues” each year on polar research projects, disciplinary topics or polar geographical regions of current interest. In particular “Special Issues” will focus on those polar themes which have strong internationally collaborative links. To date, APS has published some thematic or special issues focusing on Arctic research or reviewing on CHINARE progress over the last three decades.

Since 2000s, we have released eight special/thematic issues related to the Arctic region:

1. Response of polar organisms and natural environment to global changes (No.1 Vol.28 2017)
2. Arctic Policy and Sustainable Development (Vol. 27, No 3, 2016)
3. Current Research on Atmospheric Aerosols and Trace Gases over the Polar Regions [Vol. 26, No 3, 2015)
4. The Rapid Change of Arctic Sea Ice and its Possible Effects on High- and Mid-Latitude Weather and Climate (RCASI) (Vol. 25, No 4, 2014)
5. Proceedings of Asian Forum for Polar Sciences (AFoPS) 2012 (Vol. 24, No 4, 2013)
6. Summertime Ocean and Sea Ice in the Central Arctic (Vol. 22, No 4, 2011)
7. Model-Data Fusion Studies in the Arctic Ocean and Sub-polar ocean (Vol. 19, No 2, 2008)
8. China-Norway International Symposium on Polar Science (Vol. 13, No 1, 2002)

Besides, seven representative reviewing papers published on APS include:

1. Review of CHINARE progress over the last three decades, by CHEN Liqi, LIU Xiaohan, BIAN Lingen, et al. (Vol. 28 No. 3, 2017)
2. Holocene climate change and anthropogenic activity records in Svalbard: a unique perspective based on Chinese research from Ny-Ålesund, by YANG Zhongkang, YUAN Linxi , WANG Yuhong, et al. (Vol. 28 No. 2, 2017)
3. Progress in Chinese research on water masses and circulation in the Arctic and subarctic ocean, by CAO Yong, ZHAO Jinping, SHAO Qiuli (Vol. 28 No. 2, 2017)
4. Review of research on Arctic sea ice physics based on the Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition, by LEI Ruibo, ZHANG Zhanhai, LI Zhijun, et al. (Vol. 28 No. 2, 2017)
5. Advances in Chinese Arctic and subarctic research in marine biology and ecology with emphasis on the Pacific Arctic sector, by LI Hai, LIN Longshan, SONG Puqing, et al. (Vol. 28 No. 2, 2017)
6. Advances in Chinese and international biogeochemistry research in the western Arctic Ocean: a review, by CHEN Jianfang, Alba Marina COBO-VIVEROS, JIN Haiyan, et al. (Vol. 28 No. 4, 2017)
7. Review of China’s scientific research progress in polar meteorology in the last 30 years, by LU Longhua, BIAN Lingen (Vol. 22 No. 1, 2011)

In 2018, the special issue “Polar Climate Change: Driving Processes, Extreme Events, and Global Linkages” are to be published as part of APS Volume 29 and will be issue number 3 of 2018 (Series no. 72) as general issue. A special issue was proposed to publish in 2019, focusing on some key research theme of the eighth Chinese National Arctic Expedition.

As you know, since 2014, Chinese scientists published annually over 210 SCI-included papers related to Arctic or Antarctic sciences. You can get the latest details on the China’s Arctic research outcome from the National Annual Report on Polar Program issued by the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration (http://caa.hbaa.cn/en/index.html?pid=publications&sub=nr).