China's Kunlun Station in Antarctica

China plans to build its fifth research station in the Antarctic in a bid to further promote polar research, said an official with the State Oceanic Administration (SOA).

The station will be built on Inexpressible Island in Terra Nova Bay in the Ross Sea, said Qin Weijia, director of the SOA Polar Expedition Office.

After it is built, the year-round base will be used to investigate the land, sea, atmosphere, and glaciers in the Antarctic, Qin said, at the annual academic meeting of China polar science held between Oct.26 and 27 in Changchun of northeast China.

China has built four Antarctic research stations since 1985, including two perennial stations: Changcheng and Zhongshan; and two summer stations: Taishan and Kunlun.

The country will step up efforts to build a polar monitoring network, upgrade existing polar research stations, promote the building of polar expedition vessels, and initially establish a national maritime big data center in Polar Regions, Qin added.