A permanent tidal station was installed at the Chinese Zhongshan Station in Feb. 2010. Harmonic constants of 170 tidal constituents were obtained from harmonic analysis of the first year's data. The results of the eight main constituents showed good agreement with those of two tidal models. Tidal characteristics, such as tide type, diurnal inequality, tidal range, and water levels were also analyzed.
Pedersenbreen is a small polythermal valley glacier, located in Svalbard, which has been one of the two glaciers monitored by Chinese Arctic expedition members since 2004. This study estimates its area and volume and analyzes its change during 1936-1990-2009, using field collected GPS/GPR data in 2009 and historical topographic maps published by the Norwegian Polar Institute. We have found that Pedersenbreen is just like many other valley glaciers in Svalbard, having experienced a significant recession since the end of Little Ice Age in the early 20th century. The glacier tongue has retreated more than 0.6 km, while ice volume has decreased by approximately 13%. The overall thinning rate of Pedersenbreen has shown acceleration during the recent decades. Further analysis shows that the ice tongue in the downstream area of Pedersenbreen is melting at the highest rate, while a simultaneous accumulation occurred in the upstream. However, as global temperatures increase, the accumulation area is reducing year by year.
