Data Map
Xuelong arrives in Shanghai
The Xuelong has reached the port of Shanghai. It arrived home late last night after a successful journey.
The CHINARE5, Chinas Fifth National Research Expedition, completed around 30.000 km of sailing, 18.500 nautical miles, including 5370nm in the Arctic Ocean.
A statement from the Polar Research Institute of China states that the expedition team has successfully performed various scientific research tasks. The researchers conducted a systematic geophysical survey, installed an automatic meteorological station, as well as launched investigations on oceanic turbulence and methane content in the Arctic area.
They also held academic exchanges with their counterparts in Iceland, and the two groups conducted a joint oceanic survey in the waters around Iceland.
The Xuelong left the port of Qingdao on the 2nd of July and arrived in Reykjavík, Iceland, on the 16th of August. It left Reykjavík on the eve of 18th of August and reached Akureyri the next day. After fruitful visits to both cities the Xuelong left Akureyri on the 20th of August and arrived just over a month later in China.
Research was conducted in both parts of the journey which was fruitful in all aspects.
Last days in the Arctic
Arctic sea ice cover melted to its lowest extent in the satellite record this year, breaking the previous record low observed in 2007.
The melting season does not seem to be over yet as the temperatures still show record high.
During the 5th expedition of the Snow Dragon, the sea ice extent was measured seven times to show the most accurate picture of current conditions in the Arctic.
The samples of the sea ice were taken during the expedition as well as other types of measurements with regards to Arctic weather conditions, seabed area and various geophysical conditions of the High Arctic.
The samples of all kinds were taken to the laboratories on board the Xue Long and will be processed by the Chinese scientific teams.
Now the Snow Dragon has been followed by Japanese aircraft and U.S helicopter. Since this morning it has been heading towards China, crossing the strait between Hokkaido and Honshu. The vessel is expected to be arriving in Shanghai at the end of the month.
Xue Long entered the sea – ice zone of the Arctic Ocean.
Xue Long entered the sea-ice zone of the Arctic Ocean on August 25th, north of Spitsbergen. The sea ice was mainly first-year ice, easily navigable, with a few small icebergs in between.
Footprints of polar bears were soon spotted on some of the ice floes and later on a bear with a newly caught seal was observed on the ice.
After a few moments, the bear swam away with the seal, leaving some seagulls behind that had been waiting for their share of the catch.
The ice conditions were monitored continuously along the route, with visual observations, photographs and various sensors, as were oceanographic conditions near the surface.
The ship followed a high Arctic route north of the Russian islands, between 81° and 82°N, east to 120°E where it turned north.
Passive microwave images from satellites were used for navigation. Sea-ice concentration was exceptionally low this year; in fact the year 2012 is a historical minimum for ice extent in the Arctic.
A number of sea-ice stations were set up, to study the sea-ice thickness, various properties of the ice and to collect samples of ice and snow for further investigation.
During the work on the ice, two crew members were on polar bear watch. Luckily, no bears came during ice stations.
On August 30th, another polar bear was seen on a nearby ice floe. This bear did also have a seal, which it dragged away once it spotted the ship.
The bears were possibly mainly noticed since the ice near them was red with blood, and also since they might not have been keen to abandon their catch.
Numerous polar bear tracks were observed whilst the Xue Long was in the sea-ice zone, without polar bears being seen again.
For most of the time that Xue Long was in the sea-ice zone, the ice was from the previous winter;
first-year ice.
There were small pools of melt water on the sea ice, after the summers thawing, ice ridges formed by ice floes colliding together, and various other features.
On the way towards the North Pole, the ice conditions became more severe, with increased proportion of thicker multi-year ice.
On August 30th, Xue Long reached its farthest point north on this cruise, at 87°39'N, 123°11'E. On the way south again, the ship went through patches of new ice formation.
