At present, the Xuelong 2 scientific research icebreaker is on its way back, and the reporters accompanying the main station are also continuing to send back precious pictures of the scientific research process. During this scientific expedition to the Arctic Ocean, the expedition team carried out various forms of scientific research operations, one of the important tasks was to find suitable sea ice areas to operate as "ice stations". How to find an ice station? What are the risks and challenges of ice station operation? Let's take a look ↓
Find suitable areas of sea ice to carry out ice station operations
CCTV reporter Wang Nan: After a night of searching, Xuelong 2 finally found the first ice and snow area suitable for short-term ice stations. At present, the gangway on the side of the ship has been lowered, and the members of the ice exploration team are exploring a safe working area on the ice.
Lin Long, head of the sea ice environment team of the Ocean Team of China's 13th Arctic Ocean Scientific Expedition: We hope that the thickness of the ice is more than 1 meter, and we started looking for sea ice suitable for ice station operations at 9 o'clock last night, and found 7 o'clock in the morning, 10 hours. Although this ice is a little smaller, the thickness is possible, 1 meter 3 to 1 meter 7, which is the ideal thickness.
It is not easy to find the right ice station, not only to detect the thickness of the ice, but also to find possible safety hazards on the ice, especially cracks and deep pits under the snow cover, which are not easy to detect and will cause the risk of people falling into the water.
Chen Chao, captain of the oceanic team of China's 13th Arctic Ocean Scientific Expedition: It doesn't snow for a long time, and it will form an obvious trace that can be seen around, so this is still more dangerous, relatively empty, and all water. Ice exploration belongs to the first step of the entire ice station operation, because only by taking the first step well can we carry out subsequent operations, including biological ecology and buoy deployment.
Ice station operations: Carry out Arctic Ocean sea ice research
After the ice exploration was completed, the expedition team members divided into groups to the ice surface to start the ice station operation. What do the players do on the ice?
After the ice exploration, the quiet Arctic Ocean ice field quickly became lively. The expedition team members divided into five groups and came to their own operation area. According to reports, such as biochemical operations, the cleanliness of the ice surface is required, and human interference pollution should be avoided as much as possible; For jobs related to physics, the ice surface should be relatively flat. According to the operation requirements, the short-term ice station only has 5 hours of ice operation time, and in this only time, the team members cooperate tacitly and work non-stop.
Qu Meng, member of China's 13th Arctic Ocean Scientific Expedition: I am measuring snow density and water content. Satellite remote sensing requires some physical characteristics of snow and establishes a snow transmission model to do quantitative remote sensing inversion.
Lin Long, head of the sea ice environment team of the Ocean Team of the 13th Arctic Ocean Scientific Expedition to China: The one we deployed is a sea ice mass balance buoy, which mainly focuses on changes in ice thickness and snow thickness, as well as changes in ice temperature. Ice temperature combined with ice thickness and snow thickness can invert the energy balance of sea ice, a seasonal evolution. For example, how much ice thickness is added in winter and how much ice thickness is melted in summer.
It is understood that this Arctic Ocean scientific expedition has set up 6 short-term ice stations and 1 long-term ice station, focusing on sea ice physics, hydrology, chemistry and other scientific research projects.
Simulated "bear prevention" drill to ensure ice operations
Another important part of ice operations in the Arctic is to prepare for polar bears. On the first day on the short-term ice station, there was a "sudden situation".
Wheelhouse, flight deck, ice lookout, drones, bear cages, helicopters, ice operations have not yet begun, and the members of the bear prevention team have been in place in advance.
Pei Jiahao, experimenter of the "Xuelong 2" laboratory: In an hourly rotation, the most afraid is fogging, if the fog is very large, it will affect visibility.
Zhang Yuxiang, service leader of the "Xuelong 2": There is definitely pressure to prevent bears, and we must always be vigilant and pay attention to the lookout.
Member of China's 13th Arctic Ocean Scientific Expedition Lefange: The flight deck has two bear watchers, respectively responsible for the safety of the port and starboard areas.
Wang Ying, member of China's 13th Arctic Ocean Scientific Expedition: Because the view of the bridge is better, we will look at a wider range. But the pressure is greater, because the field of view is good, and there are more things to see.
Just more than 2 hours after the team members began working on the ice, suddenly, the ship's whistle sounded, which was an early warning signal agreed by the expedition team to find polar bears before the ice station operation.
On-board broadcast: emergency broadcast, emergency broadcast, simulated bear prevention drill, simulated bear prevention drill. 600 meters to the right of the boat, a polar bear is spotted. Please withdraw all personnel on the ice.
Although it was a false alarm, the potential risks of the Arctic Ocean ice station operation also taught the team a lesson.
Chen Qingman, captain of the comprehensive team of China's 13th Arctic Ocean Scientific Expedition: There are about 17 people in the entire bear prevention team, divided into several shifts, and they keep shifting. We selected crew members who were not involved in the corresponding ice operations, as well as crew members who had many years of Arctic exploration experience on board. Since the exercise sounded the alarm of the appearance of polar bears, about three minutes later, all the personnel on the ice surface returned to the mother ship, and the effect of the exercise was still good.
(CCTV reporter Wang Nan Li Xia)