Carrying sampling tools on their backs, they hike 10 kilometers in the snow and ice to find the best sampling spots, polar seals are not afraid of people at all, basking in the sun, huge square ice floes, and the fantastic turquoise sea......... Scientific expeditions to Antarctica are difficult, but they are also full of surprises. Recently, students from the University of Science and Technology of China who are on scientific expeditions in Antarctica have returned to fattening one after another.
From Hefei to Antarctica, it spans 16,600 kilometers. This group of 20-year-old students from the University of Science and Technology of China went to the extreme of the world with scientific research dreams in their hearts, and what scientific research gains did they bring back? Let's take a look at what their Antarctic scientific research life is like.
Wu Xudong (right) and Liu Hongwei (left) have an academic discussion at the University of Science and Technology of China.
Hike nearly 10 kilometers to find the best sampling spots
China's 40th Antarctic scientific expedition, which lasted more than five months, is underway, and Wu Xudong has completed his scheduled mission and returned to his campus in Hefei. When he talked about his Antarctic expedition two months ago, he felt as if it had happened yesterday.
Xudong Wu is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at USTC. On December 21, 2023, he arrived at the Great Wall Station in Antarctica and began a 39-day scientific expedition. "My main task is to take samples in the fields of atmospheric chemistry and paleoecology that will be used to study the response of penguins to climate change over the past few thousand years. ”
Wu Xudong inspected the Great Wall Station in Antarctica.
This is Wu Xudong's first arrival in Antarctica. The moment he got off the plane, all he could think of was: "What a strong wind." The cold wind hit him in the face, but fortunately, it was still summer in Antarctica, and the temperature was about freezing. On the way to the Great Wall Station, he saw huge square ice floes and a pristine turquoise sea with sea lions, seals and penguins basking in the sun...... After studying the Antarctic climate for 4 years, he finally came here.
Wu told reporters that the main purpose of his visit was to explore how penguin colonies have changed over the past few thousand years and how the climate has affected them. In Antarctica, he acted as a "gold miner", looking for the best sampling sites and taking samples of soil, atmosphere, seawater, etc.
Sampling is easy to say, but in Antarctica it is difficult. Every day, Wu Xudong has to make a sampling plan in advance according to the weather forecast of the next day, and submit an application form for going out for sampling with the leaders of the Great Wall Station in advance. The next day, he carried the sampling tools on his back and walked up to 14 kilometers to find the best sampling site.
"If the sampling goes well, we have to carry a heavy sample back on foot. I have to say that I was really tired, but my heart was very fulfilling. Wu Xudong carried up to 20 kilograms of samples and tools.
When they go out to sample, they often go out for a whole day, and they take steamed buns and chocolates to fill their hunger in the wild. The sampling was hard, but he felt that the surroundings were warm and lovely. For example, the humble Wedel's seal shows its belly when it sees the team members: for example, when you arrive at the Great Wall Station, you see a wooden sign engraved with "Hefei" standing there, pointing in the direction of Hefei.
"Every time I take samples and come back to the station, I feel very warm. Wu Xudong said that thanks to the hard work of their predecessors, the accommodation environment of their group of scientific expedition members is very good. There is plenty of heating in the room, and there are fitness facilities such as table tennis table and basketball court. "The station also has our Chinese specialty vegetable greenhouse, which is heated by the waste heat of the power station and ultraviolet lamps, so you can eat fresh vegetables two or three times a week. ”
What gives Wu Xudong the most sense of belonging is that he also participated in the construction of the Great Wall Station. The supplies for the Antarctic research station are transported by the Snow Dragon, which is replenished once every one to two years. This year's supply, it just so happened that Wu Xudong caught up. He and his teammates towed the barge in an assault boat, and the supplies were unloaded from the Snow Dragon onto the barge and then towed to the dock on the station. In order to complete the mission before the arrival of the strong cyclone, they worked overtime, working until one or two o'clock in the morning for several days.
"Although I am back, I still have teammates who are wintering in Antarctica. It's satisfying to be able to do more for my teammates behind me. On January 29, 2024, Wu Xudong completed the Antarctic scientific expedition and returned to Hefei. His sample will return with the Snow Dragon in April. However, he is not idle now, and is preparing for the research of the project.
Antarctic expeditions require more team strength
and Wu Xudong went to Antarctica for scientific research at about the same time, as well as his junior brother Liu Hongwei. Liu Hongwei participated in the seventh China-Chile joint Antarctic scientific expedition, which set off on December 30 last year. Unlike Wu Xudong, he took a research ship to conduct field sampling in the Antarctic Peninsula region, so his scope of investigation is wider.
Liu Hongwei inspected the Great Wall Station in Antarctica.
"The main areas I visited this time were in the east and southwest of the Antarctic Peninsula, and I went to nearly 20 research sites one after another, which was very rewarding. Liu Hongwei told reporters that his Antarctic scientific expedition was "sailing and investigating", and every time he arrived at an expedition area, he would take an assault boat with his teammates and land on the island for sampling.
Although this was also his first scientific expedition in Antarctica, with the help of his teammates, his sampling task was successfully completed.
Liu Hongwei collects sediment on the island.
The islands where the samples were taken were often unroaded and often had hills to climb. There are rocks and snow on it. Liu Hongwei and his teammates worked together, and everyone used shovels to cut through the snow and dig out the foothold. In the ice and snow, sometimes it is necessary to go to several landing sites in a day, leaving little time for a single survey site to sample, and the time is too tight for one person to take samples. His teammates would come and help him dig the profile, lay the columns, and divide the samples. This polar expedition made him realize more that "scientific research requires team strength".
In the pictures of the Antarctic scientific expedition shared by Liu Hongwei, the reporter saw that the extremely demanding sampling work requires the tools that are common around him. For example, the sedimentation column sampling tool is a white plastic PVC pipe, and when sampling, their operation is to use a hammer to drive the plastic PVC pipe into the sediment or soil in the sampling area, and the soil is embedded in the pipe, and then pulled out, and the sampling is completed.
However, the process sounds simple, but the operation is very exquisite. For example, in the search for soil sampling points, it is necessary to consult the data as much as possible in the early stage to find the most suitable sampling area, and when the sedimentary column is hit, the sampling will often fail due to the encounter with rocks, and the sedimentary column will be difficult to pull out if the angle is wrong. "If we see biological traces such as penguin droppings and feather fragments in the sedimentary profile, we are very excited, indicating that this sample is very valuable for studying penguin ecology. ”
Now, Liu Hongwei and Wu Xudong have returned to campus, and about a month of Antarctic scientific research will be their most valuable wealth in their future scientific research work and life.
Wu Xudong (left) and Liu Hongwei (right) conduct research on Antarctic research experiments in the laboratory of the University of Science and Technology of China.
Since 1998, when Prof. Sun Liguang and Prof. Xie Zhouqing participated in China's 15th Antarctic Expedition, USTC has sent more than 70 people to participate in China's Antarctic scientific expedition and achieved a series of innovative scientific research results. The Laboratory of Polar Environment of USTC has also been built into a provincial and ministerial key laboratory, and has become an important base for cultivating Antarctic talents in the mainland.
Hebao Science + Convergence Media Studio
Hefei Tong Client-Hebao All-Media Reporter Liu Xiaorong/Text Wang Hao/Picture