## 5 Conclusions  
In summary, to study the baseline variability characteristics of the near-surface electrical environment in the Antarctic region, the authors conducted long-term observation experiments at the Zhongshan Chinese Station using EFM. Before the observation experiments, the authors performed laboratory measurements to ensure the accuracy of the observation experiment, even though the EFM had been rigorously calibrated during production. After defining the criteria for clear days and excluding the interference of magnetic storms, 40 fair-weather days were selected between 1 March-1 August 2022, at Zhongshan Station in Antarctica. Then, the average curve of the AEF daily variations of the 40 fair-weather days was plotted and compared with the curve during the same period in Beijing. The curve of the AEF in Antarctica has a \"single peak, single valley,\", which is different from the \"double-peak, double-valley\" curve in Beijing. As the Antarctic region is much less densely populated than Beijing and far from aerosol sources, the curves in these regions are of two different types, and the daily variation in the AEF in Antarctica is simpler than that in Beijing. In addition, the difference in sunrise and sunset times causes the peak and valley to appear at different times. Finally, although the EFMs at the Antarctic Chinese Zhongshan Station and Beijing Thirteen Hill Station were produced by the same facility, the average fair-weather AEF value in Antarctica is significantly greater than that in Beijing by 0.37 kV/m, and the AEF values in Antarctica exceed the observations reported by other researchers. The authors attribute the reasons to the following: (i) less precipitation, fewer radioactive substances, and fewer charged small ions in Antarctica; (ii) certain horizontal potential difference between Antarctica and Beijing and other regions; (iii) variation in ionospheric potential; (iv) the proximity of the EFM in Antarctica to water sources; (v) differences in wind speed. Taking advantage of the fact that the Zhongshan Chinese Station in Antarctica is at a high latitude, additional research on the relationships between the AEF and solar activities and geological conditions will be conducted.  
[PERSON] conceptualized the study; [PERSON] processed and analyzed the data; [PERSON] and [PERSON] prepared the original draft with contributions from all authors; [PERSON]-[PERSON], [PERSON], S.-[PERSON], [PERSON]-[PERSON], [PERSON]-[PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON] were responsible for the discussions. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by the Strategic Pioneer Program on Space Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Grant No. XDA17010301, XDA15052500, and XDA15350201, and by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 41874175 and 41931073. The authors thank the Chinese Meridian Project, Ground-Based Space Environment Monitoring Network (Meridian Project II), Specialized Research Fund for State Key Laboratories, and the Pandeng Program of NSSC. The study was supported by the international cooperation project (No. 2021 YFE0106400) between the governments from the Ministry of Science and Technology, PRC.  
Not applicable.  
The datasets used or analyzed in the present work are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.  
We thank the Antarctic expedition members for installing the instruments. We appreciate the Antarctic Chinese Zhongshan Station for providing the observation site, Rp5 ([[https://rp5.ru](https://rp5.ru)]([https://rp5.ru](https://rp5.ru)) (accessed on 12 July 2022)) for providing the weather data and Geomagnetic Data Service ([[https://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index.html](https://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index.html)]([https://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index.html](https://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index.html)) (accessed on 22 July 2022)) for providing the Dst data.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.