Australian and Chinese scientists to expand Antarctic cooperation with new pact

Antarctic researchers from Australia and China have signed a trans-national pact that will allow the two countries to share data used to forecast sea-ice conditions.

China's National Marine Environment Forecasting Centre and Australia's Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) signed the agreement in Hobart on Monday.

Scientists from both organizations travel to the icy continent each year to conduct research, and must restock stations to enable their researchers to stay in the area for lengthy periods.

The sea-ice data is important as 'icebreakers' - ships designed to channel through ice allowing accompanying ships safe passage - can become stranded in certain areas.

Last year, record sea-ice levels led to several of these specialized ships becoming trapped in the ice.

Late last month, Australia's Prime Minister PM Malcolm Turnbull announced that a new 350 million U.S. dollar icebreaker would be built to replace the ageing Aurora Australis which has sailed the Southern Ocean since 1989.

"Interest is growing in the Antarctic, particularly in relation to its importance for understanding climate change,"CRC acting chief executive, Mark Kelleher, told the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) on Monday.

"The Chinese are as interested as we are in the research that's going on there to understand what all that's going to mean for us."

Kelleher said Australia and China had a rich history of cooperation in Antarctica, having shared information on the region since the mid 1980s.

"This agreement is about us pooling our capabilities, so that we can become better at forecasting where the sea ice difficulties are going to be and therefore helping navigation processes," he said. Endit