The year 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the continental polar expedition.
Since the first Chinese Antarctic expedition in 1984, Wuhan University has sent more than 180 people to participate in 39 Chinese scientific expeditions to the Antarctic and 16 scientific expeditions to the Arctic. This year, the Antarctic and Antarctic scientific expedition team of Wuhan University won the title of the 28th "China Youth May Fourth Medal Collective".
Recently, the reporter interviewed three of the young scientific expedition members, who are fighting at the forefront of the Arctic and Antarctic scientific expeditions with a youthful attitude, and contribute wisdom and strength to better understand, protect and use the polar regions.
An Jiachun:
Let scientific research better serve the national polar strategy
In a small town called Ny-Ålsund in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, two stone lions stand out at the entrance of the Arctic Yellow River Station, the northernmost stronghold of China's polar expeditions. At the end of August last year, An Jiachun, associate professor of the China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center of Wuhan University, came here to begin a scientific investigation that lasted for more than a month, focusing on the study of glacier mass balance, glacier movement, glacier meteorology, glacier chemistry and other issues, and successfully completed various tasks.
An Jiachun is a post-85 generation who has been engaged in polar research at Wuhan University for nearly 18 years, and has participated in Antarctic scientific expeditions twice and the Arctic scientific expedition 6 times. "When I was a child, I always liked to hold a map and look at it, and I was especially fascinated by the polar 'exploration'." An Jiachun said with a smile.
An Jiachun drove a snowmobile to conduct scientific research on the surface of the glacier. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In recent years, with global warming, the study of sea level change has become one of the world's focus of attention, and ocean tide data is the most direct data for studying sea level change. During China's 28th Antarctic Expedition from 2011 to 2012, An Jiachun participated in the establishment of the mainland's first continuous real-time tide observation system in Antarctica. After that, An Jiachun's investigation focused on the North Pole.
"Glaciers are very sensitive to climate change, and the Arctic is one of the fastest warming regions in the world." An Jiachun introduced that the mainland is one of the countries closest to the Arctic Circle on land, and the natural conditions of the Arctic and its changes have a direct impact on China's climate system and ecological environment. So far, the mainland has organized a total of 13 scientific expeditions to the Arctic Ocean and 19 annual scientific expeditions to the Yellow River station in the Arctic.
Since 2014, An Jiachun has mainly relied on the Yellow River station to carry out his work in the Arctic region. "In the Svalbard area, where the Yellow River Station is located, most of the glaciers in the territory are subpolar or multi-thermal Xiaoice, which are very sensitive to the fluctuation of the North Atlantic Warm Current and the corresponding climate change, and is one of the key areas for international glacier monitoring and research." An Jiachun said that since the biannual glacier monitoring can only measure the average flow velocity of the glacier in winter and summer, in order to improve the accuracy and resolution of the monitoring, they started the construction of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) glacier continuous stations on this basis.
The glaciers in the Arctic region are melting rapidly, and conventional ice monitoring stations are frequently lodging, and data storage and transmission are unstable, making it impossible to obtain continuous observation data. To this end, An Jiachun and his colleagues in the scientific expedition team creatively designed the glacier continuous station in the shape of a regular tetrahedron, which greatly enhanced its stability and solved a series of problems such as the difficulty of power supply in the field and the poor stability of the instrument at low temperatures. At the same time, An Jiachun also continuously positioned 24 monitoring benchmarks on the two glaciers monitored on the mainland to monitor glacier mass balance and ice flow velocity.
When conducting scientific expeditions in the Arctic field, the snow is thick in spring, and snowmobiles and other means of transportation can be used, but in the summer and autumn when the snow melts, in order to reduce the intervention and damage to the tundra vegetation and other ecological environment, the scientific expedition team members choose to carry equipment on their backs and hike to and from the glacier. "Unlike Antarctica, when working in the Arctic in the field, you also need to be careful to guard against attacks by wild animals such as polar bears." An Jiachun said that the scientific research station specially organized them to conduct field knowledge training. Only after passing the assessment can the members of the scientific expedition team go out to work, and they must carry rifles and flare guns for self-defense.
"The polar regions are important indicators and amplifiers of global environmental change, and they are also rich in mineral, biological and other resources, which occupy an important position in scientific research." An Jiachun said that in the future, he and his colleagues will continue to base themselves on the polar regions, look at the world, bear in mind the "great man of the country", use the burning youth to leave a solid footprint in this white wasteland, and contribute more youth power to the polar strategy of the mainland.
Geng Tong:
Head towards the highest elevation of the Antarctic Inland Ice Sheet
Eight snowmobiles with red locomotives are dragged by sleds to carry various functional cabins such as colorful living cabins, living cabins, and power generation cabins, lined up like a long line, slowly driving in the boundless white world. Geng Tong, who sat in the cockpit of the lead car, continued to guide the team through handheld GPS equipment and mobile phone positioning assistance software.
Geng Tong, a research assistant at the China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center of Wuhan University, was one of the 20 warriors of the Kunlun Station (Taishan Station) team. On December 16 last year, they set off from the inland departure base 7 kilometers southwest of Zhongshan Station, crossed the uninhabited Antarctic Plateau, passed through Taishan Station, and advanced to Kunlun Station in Antarctica, China.
Geng Tong carried out a geophysical survey near the Kunlun station and set up seismographs. Photo by Gu Pengfei
"This time, my main task is to carry out the maintenance of GNSS base stations of Taishan Station and Kunlun Station, UAV topographic mapping, geophysical survey, Qilin subglacial lake exploration, etc., so as to lay a good foundation for further exploration of the Antarctic inland region and related scientific research." Geng Tong told reporters that as a post-95 generation who participated in the polar expedition for the first time, he and his teammates overcame many difficulties such as cold and lack of oxygen and bad weather along the way, went deep into the interior of Antarctica for more than 1,200 kilometers, and obtained a large number of precious first-hand scientific research data.
During the long journey, they traveled during the day and camped on the ice sheet at night. "There was electric heating in the cabin where we slept, which helped us withstand the cold, and we had plenty of supplies. The biggest challenge of the trip came from the unpredictable weather. Geng Tong said that along the way, he encountered many albino days, which is a unique natural weather atmospheric optical phenomenon in the polar regions: the sky and the earth are blurred, and people and vehicles seem to blend into the thick milky milk, and the vision is disturbed. On the way back, they encountered the worst blowing snow in many years, with visibility of less than 5 meters, and the convoy almost got separated.
On New Year's Day this year, they successfully arrived at Kunlun Station, the highest scientific research station built by humans in Antarctica, even though it was Antarctic summer, and the average local temperature was only minus 25 degrees Celsius. After the solemn flag-raising ceremony, the team members carried out a series of scientific expeditions non-stop.
In this expedition, Geng Tong carried 100 seismographs and began to deploy them at a distance of 70 or 80 kilometers from Kunlun Station to collect epicenter signals and assist in detecting the internal structure of the Antarctic ice sheet. After installing the relevant scientific research instruments, Geng Tong needs to use the mobile phone software to test and confirm the successful deployment of the instruments. In order to facilitate the touch screen, he would take off his thick gloves every time and operate with only thin gloves. Once, after returning from the field, he found a large patch of whitish on the tips of several fingers of his right hand, and the team doctor diagnosed him with moderate frostbite and advised him to stop working in the field, otherwise he might lose his fingers if it was more serious. "Compared with the difficulties encountered by other seniors who have participated in many Antarctic scientific expeditions, this small injury is nothing, and I was only worried that I would not be able to complete the task." Geng Tong said.
On the way back, he and his teammates successfully entered the Qilin subglacial lake area, which is 120 kilometers away from Taishan Station, and set up two sets of GNSS tracking stations in the area for the first time to monitor the surface flow velocity of the subglacial lake and provide data support for exploring its internal structure.
When Geng Tong was in junior high school, when he saw the news of the construction of Kunlun Station, he was very yearning for this distant and mysterious land; A few years ago, as a student representative, he went to the Xuelong Base Wharf in Shanghai to send the members of the school's polar expedition to board the ship and board the "Snow Dragon" to visit, and he looked forward to becoming one of them one day.
"Now, the baton is in the hands of our generation." Geng Tong said that he will complete his studies in a down-to-earth manner, continue to accumulate experience and improve his ability in practice, and strive to catch up with the footsteps of his predecessors and move forward to more unknown areas in the polar regions.
Zhang Baojun:
Participated in the construction of the mainland's fifth research station in Antarctica
At the beginning of February, on the coast of Rosshaienksburg Island in Antarctica, the Qinling Station, whose main building resembles the shape of the "Southern Cross", has begun to take shape. The weather forecast information made everyone's hearts tighten: a category 12 hurricane is coming!
On the windward side of the main building, there are still 3 curtain wall panels that have not been installed, and the wall must be closed before the hurricane comes. Zhang Baojun, a distinguished associate researcher at the China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center of Wuhan University, and the members of the scientific expedition team immediately took action to install the last curtain wall panel before the hurricane roared in the snow.
Zhang Baojun at the Chinese Antarctic Research Station. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Zhang Baojun, 35, is no stranger to the rapidly changing weather in the polar regions. In November 2013, Zhang Baojun, then a doctoral student at the China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center of Wuhan University, came to this "white desert" with the 30th Chinese Antarctic scientific expedition to carry out wintering tasks such as the construction and maintenance of scientific research stations, and worked for a year and a half.
"The Antarctic continent is far from human habitation, and only some lower plants such as lichens can grow in the wild. Working in Antarctica, you not only have to endure physical and psychological tests such as lack of supplies, isolation, and inconvenient communication, but also often face various unexpected situations. Zhang Baojun said that before going to the northeast for the first time, the scientific expedition team specially organized them to carry out adaptive training, learning to dig snow holes in the ice and snow, vertical climbing, and camping in the wild. Although we have made full preparations for this trip to Antarctica, unexpected situations still occur from time to time.
Late at night on December 6 last year, he and his teammates arrived in the waters near the new station in the Ross Sea on the icebreaker "Snow Dragon 2". "The summer in Antarctica lasts from November to March of the following year, with long daylight hours and relatively good meteorological conditions, which is a valuable window period for us to build a station." Zhang Baojun said that after arriving, they quickly put into the construction of the new station while unloading the goods. Regardless of whether the position is management, scientific research or logistics, everyone has to go to the front line of construction.
"Snow Dragon 2" crosses the westerly wind belt. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Dongbin
The curtain wall panel protective film used for the main building is torn off with a light tear by hand in China, and in the extremely cold and dry environment of Antarctica, a board needs to be torn for two hours. In order to improve efficiency, the members of the scientific expedition team tried to use electric blankets, blow with heaters, and finally boil a pot of hot water to pour on it, shortening the tearing time of each board to more than 10 minutes; To install the purlins on the building fixing plate, you need to use a hand drill to drive the self-tapping screws into the steel plate several millimeters thick, and in the environment of more than minus 10 degrees Celsius, everyone presses the screws into it little by little, and at the end of the day, the wrists are almost swollen......
After 52 days of hard work by more than 100 team members, the fifth research station of the mainland in Antarctica, Qinling Station, was officially completed and put into use on February 7. This is the third perennial Antarctic research station in the mainland after the Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station, which fills the gap in the layout of the mainland's Antarctic scientific research and will provide basic support for the assessment of the Antarctic ecological environment and climate change.
In addition to participating in the construction of the Qinling Station, he is also responsible for the construction of the offshore tide gauge station and GNSS tracking station, and carries out related scientific research. "We took a barge and set up tide gauges at a distance of 50 meters from the shore and about 10 meters deep for tide observation and forecasting, and data monitoring of sea temperature, salinity, pressure, sea level changes and other data." Zhang Baojun said that during the deployment of the tide gauge, there were also problems such as short circuits in cables, and after continuous debugging and maintenance, the tide gauge station finally collected the first observation data a week later.
"The use of satellite remote sensing data and on-site observations, combined with data collected by tide gauges, GNSS and other equipment, to corroborate and analyze each other, can help us more accurately monitor the material balance and changes of the Antarctic ice sheet and ice shelves, and further understand the mechanism and principle." Zhang Baojun said that he will continue to track and observe in the future, and make good use of the relevant results of this scientific expedition to solve scientific research problems.
Source: Central Committee of the Communist Youth League