During China's 40th Antarctic expedition, the mainland's fixed-wing aircraft "Snow Eagle 601" flew a total of 44 sorties, with heavy tasks, tight time and international cooperation.
"'Snow Eagle 601' implements the Antarctic 'Ring' plan of international cooperation for aerial subglacial surveys around the edge of the Antarctic ice sheet initiated by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), and also cooperates with the expedition team members to ensure the intercontinental round-trip trip of Antarctica, and provides personnel and material transportation support and emergency support in the southeast Antarctic expedition of the mainland. Cheng Xuyu, captain of the fixed-wing aircraft team of China's 40th Antarctic expedition, said that these achievements are inseparable from the polar aviation meteorological support for the "Snow Eagle 601".
"Compared with the past, 'Snow Eagle 601' mainly relies on foreign research stations such as Russia and Australia to provide aviation weather forecasts, and now the mainland has been able to provide aviation meteorological support for it independently. Jiang Yifei, the aviation weather forecaster this time, is from the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center and has participated in Antarctic expeditions three times. He introduced that in order to do a good job in aviation meteorological support, the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center has compiled a polar aviation support manual in advance, formulated a support plan, and adopted a forecast support mechanism with front and rear cooperation. According to the on-site needs of Antarctica, the meteorological support team continuously adjusted the support process and forecast products, carried out climate background analysis for the East Antarctic region where Zhongshan Ice and Snow Airport is located, and further clarified the key focus factors, such as cloud cover, visibility, route turbulence, etc.
The expedition team members maintain the automatic weather station at Zhongshan Ice and Snow Airport. Photo by Zhang Fuquan
This year is also the first time that the mainland has carried out polar aviation meteorological support cooperation with an international research station. Jiang Yifei strengthened exchanges with his counterparts in Australia, Russia and other countries, learned from their experience in the process of international cooperation, and paid attention to international standards in forecasting. After exploration and improvement, the forecast products provided by the Continental Aviation Meteorological Support team have won the recognition and praise of international peers. According to Jiang Yifei, in terms of international cooperation this year, the "Snow Eagle 601" aviation meteorological support team has exchanged aviation weather forecasts and observation data with Casey Station in Australia for many times, smoothly ensuring the commuting activities of Chinese personnel in and out of Antarctica; fully communicating weather information with Mawson Station in Australia, Showa Station in Japan, Princess Elizabeth Station in Belgium, and Troll Station in Norway, and at the same time providing aviation weather forecast support for Princess Elizabeth Station in Belgium, flexibly adjusting flight plans according to weather changes, and ensuring major international cooperation in AntarcticaThe "Ring" plan has been successfully implemented, and it has provided airport weather forecasts for Davis Station in Australia and Progress Station in Russia for many times.
According to the characteristics of Antarctica and the flight needs of "Snow Eagle 601", Jiang Yifei added two forecasts of "surface contrast" and "vertical clarity" to the conventional aviation forecast elements, which greatly improved the intuitive understanding of the weather conditions in Antarctica by pilots and ground crews. "In Antarctica, there are often albino skies and snow blowing, and in this case, pilots are unable to see the runway and skyline clearly, posing a huge risk for aircraft to land. Jiang Yifei said that sometimes even though it is sunny, a gust of wind blows, blowing up the snow on the ground, and the visibility on the ground immediately drops. "Surface contrast" refers to the clarity of the pilot's observation of the ground from the air, and "vertical clarity" refers to the clarity of the skyline seen by the pilot. Since he had no relevant experience before, Jiang Yifei and the experienced captain of the "Snow Eagle 601" constantly communicated and ran in, referring to the actual feelings of the captain, improving the accuracy and precision of the forecast, and won the high trust of the crew.
"Sometimes the digital model shows that the weather is good and there is no meteorological process, but there may be a cloud suddenly floating from the sea, and if it happens to drift onto the flight path, it will have an impact on flight safety, and we are most worried about this situation. Jiang Yifei said that the location of Zhongshan Ice and Snow Airport "naturally" has a topographic trough, and is alternately affected by polar high pressure and polar cyclones, with both marine and land climate characteristics, the weather changes quickly, and the forecast is difficult. In particular, the forecast of clouds and regional snowfall is a challenge for the meteorological support team. Before each flight mission, the fixed-wing aircraft team and the "Snow Eagle 601" crew have to meet to study and judge the weather situation, adhere to the bottom line of flight safety, consider all possible situations, and only fly when safety is ensured.
During the meteorological forecast for "Snow Eagle 601", Jiang Yifei has been observing various meteorological data obtained by the automatic weather station to see whether the forecast results match the on-site conditions, analyzing and summarizing experience, and improving the accuracy of the forecast. This year, a new automatic weather station has been installed near the Zhongshan Ice and Snow Airport, which can continuously observe meteorological data throughout the year, which will enrich the observation data in this area and provide support for better weather forecasting in the future. Jiang Yifei said that the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center is working hard to upgrade the means and capabilities of meteorological observation and forecasting in the polar regions, develop independent polar weather forecasting models, carry out research on the climate characteristics of the Antarctic region, and reserve basic data for polar aviation forecasting; and establish relevant standards and norms for polar aviation meteorology with high standards to provide support for the development of the mainland's polar aviation industry.
Please indicate the source for reprinting: "China Natural Resources News" Special Chief Reporter: Wang Shaoyong Text Editor: Dai Lu New Media Editor: Liu Chuan
iNatural omnimedia
Please mark the source in a conspicuous position for reprinting: iNature All Media
iEmail: [email protected]
Phone: 010-68047618
👇