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READY TO GO: A team of 251 members are aboard the vessel Xuelong as it is about to leave Shanghai on October 11, as part of China's 26th Antarctic exploration (CHEN FEI) |
The Chinese icebreaker Xuelong, which means Snow Dragon, began recording observations as soon as it left its Shanghai port with hundreds of Chinese scientists aboard for the country's 26th scientific expedition to Antarctica on October 11.
Scientists conducted biological sampling every six hours on the ship's rear deck using high-speed equipment to analyze the distribution and composition of the ocean's plankton.
Using the ship's chemical laboratory, they took seawater samples and collected organic carbon and chlorophyll through a filter to better understand global climate change.
A collector was installed on the deck that gathers atmospheric aerosols around the clock. Vacuum sampling is being done every 24 hours to analyze the air using gas chromatography.
Research on the aerosols and gases is studying the distribution of pollutants in the world, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, said the China University of Science and Technology's professor Li Ming.
Pollutants travel far in the Southern Hemisphere, whose area is comprised of more ocean than land, which tends to exert an influence on the globe, said Li. Research in the Southern Hemisphere is important to study the global distribution of pollutants.
The 26th scientific expedition will last for about 180 days and scientists will conduct 59 research projects during the trip, said Wei Wenliang, head of the Polar Expedition Office.
The expedition will conduct regular research at Changcheng (literally meaning the Great Wall) and Zhongshan, China's two Antarctic stations, and build a third named Kunlun at Dome Argus, the pole's highest icecap at 4,093 meters above sea level. They will carry out geological and biological research on the continent, as well.
Ship-based observation is also an integral part of the polar investigation. Oceanic research will gather biological, chemical, physical and atmospheric data from different latitudes, which will enable scientists to compare their findings.
Zhang Yongshan, senior engineer from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Oceanology Institute who is in charge of the ship-based observation, said that the ship will collect data for the 26th expedition to the South Pole as it has always been the key ingredient of previous expeditions to both the south and north poles by Chinese researchers and scientists.
Two exploration teams will be sent into Antarctica's interior. One will head to China's Kunlun Station at Dome Argus, where more research equipment will be installed for astronomical observations.
The other team will go to the Grove Mountains some 400 km away from Zhongshan Station to collect meteorites and conduct other research. Between 1998 and 2006, China made four research trips to the mountains and collected 9,834 meteorites, amassing the third largest collection of extraterrestrial rock and metal in the world.
Yuan Shaohong, the expedition's leader, said the ship is expected to sail from the East China Sea into the Pacific Ocean on October 13 before crossing the equator on October 19.
The vessel is scheduled to reach Christchurch, New Zealand, where it will pick up supplies before continuing toward the South Pole.
China launched its first expedition to Antarctica in 1984. The country now has three research stations there: Changcheng Station, founded in February 1985, is south of King George Island; Zhongshan Station, built in February 1989, is south of the Mirror Peninsula's Prydz Bay; and Kunlun Station, which was set up in January 2009 at Dome Argus.
The United States, Russia, Japan, France, Italy and Germany have also built inland research stations in Antarctica.
The expedition ship Xuelong is China's only research icebreaker. It was originally built to be a polar cargo ship by the Kherson Shipyard in the Ukraine on March 25, 1993. It first underwent elementary modification in 1994 and is now equipped with advanced systems for self-contained navigation and weather observation. It is the scientific research platform for Chinese Arctic and Antarctic research expeditions. |