What are the difficulties in going on an expedition to Antarctica?

Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai, April 10 (Reporter Liu Yizhan) Antarctica, a holy land that people yearn for, is full of magic. There are magnificent icebergs, eternal ice fields and beautiful and lovely animals. When you set foot on this land, your heart will be greatly shocked, making you remember every minute of your time here. In the past 173 days, Xinhua News Agency reporters followed China's 25th Antarctic Scientific Expedition and experienced various difficulties and setbacks. They also witnessed the completion of the Kunlun Station and felt the core connotation of "patriotism, truth-seeking, innovation and hard work". The profound meaning of Antarctic spirit.

Since China’s 25th Antarctic Scientific Expedition is the Antarctic expedition with the heaviest mission, the largest number of people on board, and the largest amount of materials among all previous expeditions, the "Snow Dragon" is one month ahead of schedule. Set sail for Antarctica in a month. On October 20, 2008, China's 25th Antarctic Scientific Expedition, tasked with building China's first inland scientific research station "Kunlun Station", set sail from Shanghai to Antarctica's Zhongshan Station on the "Snow Dragon".

More than 40 crew members, led by Captain Wang Jianzhong, carefully cared for and drove the "Snow Dragon" along the way to ensure that the expedition team successfully completed its mission. Along the way, everything went so smoothly. We arrived at 68 degrees 52 minutes and 10 seconds south latitude, 2 days ahead of schedule, at the outer edge of the fixed sea ice in Prydz Bay, 57 kilometers north of Zhongshan Station in Antarctica. Right here, a natural barrier lies in front of the "Snow Dragon". This barrier caused the "Snow Dragon" to encounter the most serious "obstruction" since my country's Antarctic scientific expedition. The complex sea ice made it difficult for the "Snow Dragon" to move forward. At the most difficult time, it only advanced 60 meters in one day.

The amount of snowfall in the Zhongshan Station area in 2008 was much higher than in previous years. In November alone, there were as many as 23 days of snowfall, more than double the number in previous years. In the past few days, strong winds and snowfalls have alternated. After several heavy snowfalls, the sea ice on the shore was covered with 70 cm of snow. The thick snow "protected" the sea ice like a quilt. This not only increased The difficulty of the "Snow Dragon" in breaking ice also brings great difficulties to judge the sea ice conditions. Continuing bad weather made it impossible to carry out helicopter lifting operations, and the unloading work was delayed for 21 days.

In order to arrive at Zhongshan Station as early as possible, Captain Wang Jianzhong regarded the bridge as his dormitory. During the most difficult stage of the "Snow Dragon" icebreaking, he stayed on the bridge almost all day, holding a telescope closely. Staring at the sea ice, he personally took the helm and drove the "Snow Dragon" to break the ice. During this period, how to ensure that the "Snow Dragon" maintains maximum power to break through the sea ice is a big test for the crew of the engine department. However, a frontal impact can easily wedge it into the ice, just like a nail inserted into a cork, and the ice-breaking speed is too high. This makes it easy for the hull to enter the ice but difficult to retreat. Frequent high-power retreat puts a great burden on the tail shaft of the Snow Dragon ship's propeller. After summing up the experience of many ship jams, the "Snow Dragon" adopted an icebreaking method of opening two channels at the same time and advancing forward and backward. Like a person moving, the left and right channels move forward alternately. On the 22nd, with the arduous efforts of the entire crew, they finally walked out of this 3.7-kilometer-wide ice overlap zone. Supported by the maximum horsepower, the "Snow Dragon"'s "appetite" is also quite amazing - it consumes nearly 50 tons of oil in one day!

Yang Huigen, leader of the 25th Antarctic Expedition, said: “What’s even more serious is that this season’s melting snow water and high-temperature seawater have both accelerated the melting process of sea ice. The ice detection results show that the sea ice outside the Zhongshan Station is all wet sea ice, and the strength of the sea ice is greatly reduced, which greatly increases the safety threats and risks of the expedition team’s ice unloading operations.”

Ice transport cannot be implemented, and in order to ensure that the inland ice cap team building the Kunlun Station can leave for Dome A as soon as possible, the expedition team's personnel transportation and material unloading almost all rely on aviation operations. The Chinese and Korean helicopter teams use all available aircraft. The Kunlun station construction materials were lifted during the weather window. Those whose individual weight exceeds the helicopter transportation capacity will be disassembled and transported by helicopter to Zhongshan Station for reassembly.

After 10 days of inland material assembly work, the inland team members unloaded and loaded goods at the assembly area, often working until early in the morning before returning to Zhongshan Station to rest. In the past few days of outdoor operations, each team member has retained their original skin color except for the eyes. Other parts of the team have been sunburned to varying degrees and become much darker. The environment will be even worse after going deep into the interior.

Li Yuansheng, captain of the inland ice sheet team of the 25th Antarctic Expedition, said: "All 28 members of the inland team have undergone a series of rigorous assessments such as physical examinations, psychological tests, and plateau adaptability training. , they will overcome difficulties such as high cold and low oxygen to complete tasks such as station construction and inspection.”

From Zhongshan Station to Ice Dome A, a distance of nearly 1,300 kilometers, they experienced a headache of soft learning. Unfathomable ice fissures, it took 19 days of traveling day and night. In the early morning of January 7, 2009, Beijing time, 8 snowmobiles were driven to tow 44 sleds, and all station construction, scientific research and logistics materials arrived. Kunlun Station, the highest point of Dome A, is the site where the station was built. After arriving at Dome A, the inland ice sheet expedition team immediately invested in the construction of the Kunlun Station, overcoming severe challenges such as frostbite, altitude sickness, and reduced physical fitness in the inland ice sheet's high cold, hypoxia, and strong ultraviolet radiation environment. The excellent technology developed through repeated assembly successfully solved the construction problems of soft snow foundation and extreme low temperature on the ice cap plateau. On January 27, 2009, the construction of the main building project of Kunlun Station was completed in accordance with the design requirements, regaining the lost time in the early stage of the inspection, and successfully The task of building the station was completed, and a Chinese tripod "Tianding" embodying Chinese cultural characteristics was placed at Dome A, the highest point of the Antarctic inland ice sheet (80 degrees 22 minutes south latitude, 77 degrees 21 minutes east longitude, 4093 meters above sea level).

In addition to the construction of Kunlun Station, the capacity building of Zhongshan Station is also a very important task for this expedition team. Antarctica is known as the "extreme wind and extreme cold". When building a house under such harsh natural conditions, whether the project can be completed on time depends entirely on the weather. During the summer construction of Zhongshan Station, the inspection team members of China Railway Construction encountered multiple snowy weather conditions one after another, but they did not stop. Faced with unimaginable difficulties, we braved the wind and snow and worked tenaciously, especially in the final dusting stage, where we worked continuously for more than 10 hours a day. When I was tired, I fell on the bed and slept with my clothes on when I came back. When it was time to change my shift, I rubbed my eyes and rushed out. Liu Dubin, the project manager of China Railway Construction Engineering Group, often said: "We are afraid of snow when the wind is strong, and we are afraid of wind when the snow is strong." This is a joke, but it makes us understand what the China Railway spirit of "steel man and iron horse" is.