41st Antarctic expedition sets sail for 7 months

People wave national flags as China's 41st Antarctic expedition team sets sail from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Friday morning. The expedition team is scheduled to return to China in May. (LIU WEI/CHINA NEWS SERVICE)

China's 41st Antarctic expedition team, gathered aboard the country's two polar icebreakers Xuelong and Xuelong 2, or Snow Dragon and Snow Dragon 2, set sail from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Friday headed south to conduct scientific investigations in the polar region for seven months.

A grand ceremony was held that morning to send members of the expedition team off and wish them well.

Sun Shuxian, vice-minister of natural resources, said the research team will carry out surveys on the impact and feedback of climate change in Antarctica's icy ecosystem.

Sun presented a flag to the director of the expedition, Wang Jinhui, at the ceremony, which was held at the mouth of the Pearl River.

Long Wei, deputy head of the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration, said the research team will conduct comprehensive biological investigations, as well as monitoring of the water, atmospheric, environmental and pollutant distribution in the Prydz Bay area of East Antarctica, the Astronaut Sea, the Ross Sea, the Amundsen Sea and waters adjacent to the Antarctic Peninsula.

Relying on China's Antarctic stations — Kunlun, Taishan, Zhongshan and Changcheng, or Great Wall — the scientists will also carry out studies of the nearshore marine environment, including soil, geology, atmospheric conditions, snow and ice. And they will deeply study the role of Antarctica in global climate change, Long said.

He said the research team will also complete the interior of the main building structure of China's Qinling Station in the Antarctic, as well as construct and commission support infrastructure, such as research buildings, outdoor pipelines, communications, sewage treatment systems, seawater desalination systems and new energy microgrid systems.

In collaboration with multiple countries, including Norway and Australia, the team will also conduct an aerial survey in Enderby Land, to explore ice and sea bedrock interactions in key data gaps such as the Antarctic ice sheet interface. It will support an assessment of the ice sheet material balance, while continuing with bilateral and multilateral cooperation in logistics support with the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, South Korea, Russia and Chile, he said.

Long made the remarks at a news conference in Guangzhou on Thursday, on the eve of the two vessels' departure.

He said the research team that will return to the country in May consists of about 500 people from 80 domestic departments, units and organizations.

In addition to the two vessels, a cargo ship — Yong Sheng — will depart from Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, and head for the Antarctic later this month.

Yong Sheng will mainly be responsible for transporting materials for the construction of facilities at Qinling Station.

Xuelong 2, China's domestically made cutting-edge polar research vessel and icebreaker, can break ice 1.5 meters thick that is covered by another 50 centimeters of snow. The vessel is expected to arrive in the Antarctic on Nov 26.

Sun, who also heads the State Oceanic Administration, urged all Chinese scientists and researchers to gain a better understanding of the polar region while conducting their research in the region's severe cold, so that it can be both better utilized and preserved.