On March 3, 1990, mankind crossed the Antarctic on foot for the first time.
On March 3, 1990, the six members of the "1990 International Trans-Antarctic Expedition" lasted more than 7 months and trekked 5,984 kilometers to the former Soviet Peace Station. This is another of great significance victories made by mankind in the 20th century after landing on Mount Everest on the top of the earth and flying to the moon.
After World War II, human exploration of Antarctica turned to scientific expeditions. Around the Antarctic continent, more than 140 research stations have been set up in more than 10 countries. But the hinterland of the Antarctic continent remains a mystery.
Led by American professional explorer Wilstik and French physician John Louis Etienne in 1988, 6 members of the expedition participated in the expedition to complete the first trek across the Antarctic continent in human history. In addition to the organizers, the other four team members were soviet iceberg meteorologist Victor Bayarsky, The Englishman Jeff Shameos, Japanese explorer Keisa Suzu and Chinese scientist Qin Dahe. Prior to this, President Qin had gone to Antarctica twice and served as the captain of the fourth wintering team of the Chinese Antarctic Expedition, and in 1988 Qin Dahe was 41 years old. Of course, in addition to the people, there were 42 heavily trained sled dogs.
The purpose of this expedition is to show the world that the spirit of "cooperation, peace and friendship" that countries have followed in Antarctic expeditions for many years will continue and arouse the international community's cherishing and concern for the last primitive continent on earth.
On July 28, 1989, Qin Dahe and other team members set off from the top of the Antarctic Peninsula and began their arduous journey from west to east. The crisscrossing ice gaps and snow-covered trenches are several meters or even tens of meters deep, and the expedition team members can only use their snow poles to hit the ice to explore the way, and march cautiously. Once encountering a snowstorm in Antarctica, the visibility is only more than 10 meters, and the maximum distance is two or three kilometers a day.
In the expedition team, only Qin Dahe and the former Soviet team members carried scientific expedition tasks, so they had to pay more energy than others. During this trip to Antarctica, Qindahe collected more than 800 bottles of snow samples, collected a large amount of information about Antarctica's glaciers, climate and environment, and successfully completed the observation task of the large section of snow layer from the Antarctic Peninsula through the South Pole to the Peace Station.
The 1,250 kilometers between the South Pole and the Soviet Eastern Station were known as the "inaccessible areas" and were areas where there was no meteorological data in Antarctica at that time. Before crossing, everyone rested for 3 days at the South Pole, in order to reduce weight and keep the sleigh as light, the team members threw away a lot of things, each person left only one dress, 6 people shared a spare suit. Food is also precisely rationed, with no more than a little. The expedition left the Soviet Union's Eastern Station on January 21, 1990, when the temperature dropped to minus 41 °C, and according to Soviet scientists, the temperature here would drop to minus 50 °C after February. On February 1, 1989, it reached minus 60°C, and the further south you go, the cooler the temperature gets. Twelve days later, when they arrived at the Soviet summer station, komsomol station, the temperature was minus 49 degrees Celsius. The difficulties in moving forward have increased, and the workload of the Qin Dahe has also increased. Because in addition to expeditions, he also had to conduct scientific investigations. When others entered the tent to rest, he also needed to shave ice, dig the snow for about an hour, and it would be more difficult to encounter ice under the snow. At this time, he was hungry and tired, so he had to dig for a while and rest, and if the shovel could not dig, he would cut it with an axe. After a few months, both shovels were dug up. Every time he got a piece of data, every time he took an observation map, every time he collected a snow sample, he had to pay a huge price. It is precisely because of the uninterrupted work of Academician Qin Dahe that a complete set of Antarctic ice and snow data can be collected. At 20:10 Beijing time on March 3, 1990, the international cross-Antarctic expedition arrived at the terminal station , the Soviet Peace Station. The 220-day adventure was successfully concluded.
Later, Qin Dahe wrote in the preface to his Antarctic diary: Two years later, when I opened these diaries written in the tent during the trek across Antarctica, in the face of the diary with blurred handwriting and serious wear, the history appeared in front of me. The wild south where the snowstorm raged, the tents that stooped and groaned, the expeditions who staggered forward against the wind and the dogs who pulled the sleds... I still vividly remember that on the first night of the journey, the six team members raised a glass to celebrate "a good start is half the success", in fact, everyone knew in their hearts that the 6,000 kilometers ahead were full of hardships and dangers. I will also not forget that the 6 team members at the finish line and peace station hugged tightly and spilled tears of joy! Today, it's all history, and as a researcher, my life is covered by labs, data, papers... In this case, I and my partners in the research group accelerated the pace of life, hoping to end the project at the end of 1992 and prepare to climb new heights.
This cross-continent activity has always been accompanied by scientific expeditions and a tempering of the human will. Chinese scientist Qin Dahe successfully completed the glaciological observation and ice and snow sampling work along the expedition route, especially the collection of precious ice and snow samples in the "difficult areas" of Antarctica, obtained first-hand research data, and made a major contribution to uncovering the mysteries of Antarctica!