Introduction

Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping (CACSM) was established in 1991 with the formal dispatch of Chinese National Committee on Antarctic Research and China’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping.

As a specialized polar scientific research institution, it is dedicated to the implementation of the surveying and mapping for Chinese National Polar Research Expedition, and the research of polar science in surveying, mapping and remote sensing; meanwhile, it is involved in national and international academic communication in polar geodesy and geomatics.

Since China’s first expedition to the Antarctic in 1984, CACSM has dispatched over 100 researchers to the bipolar regions for 39 times’ expeditions to the Antarctic and 17 times’ expeditions to the Arctic.

During the development of over thirty years, CACSM has set up the geodetic datum; surveyed maps of over two hundred thousand square kilometers; named three hundred and fifty-nine features in the Antarctica; and established a technical frame of polar surveying, mapping and geoinformation. These achievements are widely recognized among polar research fields domestic and abroad.

Through all the efforts of CACSM, a distinctive discipline--Polar Surveying, Mapping, Remote Sensing and Geoinformation has formed, with supports of modern geodesy, remote sensing and geographical information disciplines from Wuhan University, and great progress has been made in academic team building, discipline system construction and talent training.

Currently, Prof. Xiaohong Zhang acts as the director of CACSM. Prof. Xiaoping Pang, Prof. Songtao Ai and Prof. Chunxia Zhou act as the vice-directors of CACSM. Leaded by them, CACSM owns 5 research groups in the fields of Polar Geodesy, Polar Remote Sensing, Geographical Information and Mapping, Polar Geophysics, Technical Developping for Engineering, and Polar Strategy based on a capable staff with 19 PhDs and has cultivated over 200 postgraduates. And presently there are more than 70 students studying and practicing under their tuition.

CACSM has undertaken a great number of state key projects in polar scientific research and won a number of scientific and technological prizes awarded by China state governments and provincial/ministerial departments.

CACSM always participates in the activities organized by the standing Committee on Antarctic Geographic Information (SCAGI) of The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) positively and presents China’s Antarctic Geographic Information report every time on its workshop. CACSM also maintains favorable relationship with international polar research institutes such as Norwegian Polar Institute, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté,  Gateway Antarctica of University of Canterbury, Chulalongkorn University, and Korea Polar Research Institute.

Based on the staff and resources of the CACSM, 2 labs have been established with the support of China State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (in 2005) and China State Oceanic Administration (in 2013); and 1 scientific association has been founded with the support of Hubei Province (in 1995).