Crew in Shanghai preparing for voyage to the Antarctic
- Source: Global Times
- [02:55 October 09 2009]
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China will send its largest Antarctic expedition team in more than two decades on Sunday for a series of scientific projects.
The 26th expedition comprising 251 people, including 12 female cre members, is the largest one since China's first Antarctic exploration in 1984, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The team will handle 59 projects.
Polar Expedition Officer head Wei Wenliang said the trip will last for 180 days.
Crews on the Xue Long or Snow Dragon, the icebreaker, will inspect, refuel and re-supply China's Changcheng and Zhongshan stations. Radar will be installed at Zhongshan Station to facilitate study of convection currents in the ionized layer. An altitude-measuring antenna will be put to use.
Wei said they will also conduct the second phase of construction work of Kunlun Station. In the station, the team will conduct ice drilling in Antarctica's Dome A to gather information on climate change.
Results are expected to be better than those taken from outer space since Dome A provides the best possible observatory condition, said Qu Tanzhou, director of the Polar Exploration Office in the National Bureau of Oceanography.
The team will conduct comprehensive studies on Mount Grove, China's first Specialized Protection Zone in Antarctica.
Xie Jieying, a teacher from the Shanghai Maritime University, felt confident to be the one of the four crew members handling the wheels of the Snow Dragon, the first woman to hold that position.
"With the help of other experts, I will manage my work, " the Xinhua News Agency quoted her as saying on Wednesday.
Xinhua/ Global Times
