Source: China.com    Time: 2012-04-06

Brief introduction

Research vessel Xue Long is now the only icebreaker that can sail in polar area in China. Its total length is 167 meters and the width is 22.6 meters. The net weight is 11400 tons and the total weight is 14997 tons with a full displacement of 21025 tons. It generates 17920 hp, giving a maximum speed of 18 knots and the endurance can be up to 18000 nautical miles. It was built by Xepcoh shipyard in Ukraine on March 25, 1993.

The vessel was originally designed as a multipurpose vessel to transport in Arctic. With a strong ability of breaking ice, it can continuously break 1.2 meters thick ice with the speed of 0.5 knots. The vessel has a controllable pitch propeller, which makes it flexible to operate and easy to break ice. With E-level steel plate, the vessel will not be out of shape even under minus 40 degrees Celsius.

“Xue Long” sailed back to Shanghai, the scientific support base of Chinese Antarctic expedition, in June 1993. The State Oceanic Administration organized people to refit the vessel. They installed two sets of automatic radar for collision avoidance with advanced level in 1990s in the cab, which could timely measure the course and speed of the coming vessels or iceberg and gave notice about how to avoid them correctly. The weather center on the vessel can timely receive the meteorological data like satellite cloud imagery of polar area to guarantee the safety while sailing in the unstable sea area under the terrible weather. With aerotechnics equipment, the vessel was available for two KA-32 helicopters to park. The landing platform was located in the center of the poop deck, where the helicopter can take off, land and park. The radar station on the vessel can monitor the helicopter to guarantee the safety. Furthermore, cultural, recreational, sports and sanitary facilities were all available including swimming pool, fitness room, library, karaoke hall, health center, operation room and laboratory. It provided a comfortable environment for staff and passengers to live and work on board. After refitting, the vessel is now available for 78 people, increasing from 55 in the past.

“Xue Long” was named by Wu Heng, the first director of Antarctic expedition team. “Long” represents China and “Xue” means the world of ice and snow in Antarctica.

Maiden Voyage to Antarctica

With the high expectation of all Chinese, the brand new “Xue Long” set sail from Shanghai to Zhongshan station in Antarctica on November 20, 1994. It sailed into the Antarctic ocean area on December 6 and then sailed along the optimal route.

Although it was in the midsummer many shelf ice of Prydz bay was still up to 1.5 meters thick and even covered with 1 meters thick of snow. Ten thousands tons of vessels sailed at the top speed, but when it touched the soft snow the impulse force was suddenly dispersed. Sometimes it could only sail 700-800 meters a day. Under such difficult situation, the commander decided not to break ice until December 18, after the spring tide exerting influence on sea ice and then used helicopters to transfer goods and expedition teams to the Zhongshan station 11 nautical miles away so that they could carry out scientific expeditions.

After the spring tide approached, the ice still kept thick and solid. “Xue Long” launched a challenge again to its limitation of breaking ice. The vessel repeatedly broke ice as ants gnawing at a bone. At the same time staff disembarked to explore the optimal route. On December 21, “Xue Long” finally entered into the state of breaking ice continuously. In the next few days, the vessel got closer to the military base on land and the ice became thinner. The huge ship bow, like a huge steel plow, kept moving towards Zhongshan Station by breaking ice. It parked and unloaded oil between two icebergs 2 kilometers away from the station on December 25. However it had to be in the state of maneuver all the time in case the ice collapsed and the vessel being damaged. After all the staff working continuously around the clock, they finally transported 330 tons of fuels to Zhongshan station.

All the missions were fulfilled successfully before January 20, 1995. “Xue Long” filled in the gap of ice-breaking in Chinese navigation and sailed back from Prydz bay, it arrived in Shanghai on March 6.

Feature:

First, there are many maps.

You can see various maps in the restaurant, meeting room, cab and corridor on “Xue Long”, including world map, Arctic map, Antarctic map, scientific expedition map, the map of China’s first scientific expedition in Arctic, the map of Zhongshan station and Great Wall station...... Some members brought their own maps and even globes. There are also plenty of nautical charts in the cab.

Second, there are many rules.

There are lots of rules on “Xue Long”.

Environmental rules: implement garbage classification, dumping garbage into sea is banned;

Safety rules: it is not allowed to wear slippers outside the cabin because it is inconvenient on the vessel and may easily gets hurt.

Fire protecting rules: it is prohibited to smoke on the ship. The expedition team carries helicopters and aviation gasoline so smoking is prohibited.

Water saving rules: it goes without saying that we have to save water.

Third, there are many photos.

There are many photos of polar area on the vessel, including penguins, icebergs, Zhongshan Station and Great Wall Station. These photos taken by previous expedition teams were hanging on the wall with frames, which constituted a unique scene on “Xue Long”.

Fourth, there are many lectures.

Members of scientific expedition team comes from different fields, so they often hold various lectures in order to promote understanding among each other, and among disciplines and topics.

Performance

Xue Long is now the biggest polar research vessel and the only icebreaker that can sail in polar area in China. It can continuously break 1.2 meters thick (including 0.2 meters snow) with the speed of 1.5 knots. The vessel has a controllable pitch propeller, which makes it flexible to operate and easy to break ice. With E-level steel plate, it will not be out of shape even under minus 40 degrees Celsius. It can transfer sundry cargo, heavy cargo and various vehicles (ro-ro ship), refrigerated cargo, valuable goods, explosive, minerals, standard container and various fuels.

After upgrading and reconstruction, all the facilities above main deck have been updated. The laboratory on vessel has been enlarged from 200 square meters to 580 square meters and all the laboratory equipment have been changed. The new “Xue Long” has the advanced navigation, location and automatic pilot system. It is also equipped with advanced communication system, the platform, hangar and corollary equipment which can hold 2 helicopters. The vessel is equipped with data processing center of atmosphere, hydrology, biology and computer, meteorological analysis and prediction center, and a series scientific laboratory of oceanophysics, chemistry, biology, geology and meteorology. So it can sail in all sea area in the world.

Facility

Xue Long has the advanced communication system, it is available for two KA-32 helicopters to park and has one parking apron. It also has medical and entertainment facilities. The vessel is equipped with data processing center of atmosphere, hydrology, biology and computer, meteorological analysis and prediction center, a series scientific laboratory of marine physics, chemistry, biology, geology and meteorology. 128 berths on board can provide basic requirements for the polar expedition.

On “Xue Long” they have installed lots of advanced facilities including fish finder, which was used to seek krill and other aquatic animals, Doppler current meter, which could measure the flow rate and the direction of water, and CTD, which was used to measure the temperature, salinity and depth of the seawater in the hydrological data room. The vessel was equipped with 200 square meters’ laboratory of marine physics, marine chemistry, biology, meteorology. Furthermore, it built several new research facilities such as air sampling room, data processing center, sample room and crane.

The vessel has 7 floors and can hold 130 people. Usually two expedition members live in one room, which is about 10 square meters. The room has a central air-conditioning and is well equipped with bathroom with hot water all the day, refrigerator, wardrobe and desk. It is also available to send emails online in the room.

“Xue Long” is also equipped with swimming pool, library, fitness room, indoor basketball court, internet bar, karaoke, laundry, and operation room. The water in the swimming pool was extracted from clean sea so there’s definitely no pollution.

In addition, there are one “Xue Ying” helicopter, one yellow river boat and one Zhongshan barge.

The history of polar expedition

●China’s 11^th Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” started its first expedition to Antarctica from October 28, 1994 to March 5, 1995, lasting 129 days. The primary mission was to dispatch the 11^th Antarctic expedition team to Zhongshan station to live through winter and summer, and materials and fuels, to take back the 10^th team members, to coordinate the over-summer expedition in Zhongshan station and to carry out research on southern ocean.

●China’s 12^th Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” started China’s 12^th Antarctic expedition from November 20, 1995 to April 1996, lasting 134 days. It has sailed for 1545 hours and 22968 nautical miles. The primary mission was to transport building materials to Great Wall station, maintenance materials to Zhongshan station, fuels and food to two stations, and to transfer the expedition team of two stations, to transport back the garbage and waste materials of Great Wall station and to transport materials and fuels from South Korea.

●China’s 13^th Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” started China’s 13^th Antarctic expedition from November 18, 1996 to April 20, 1997, lasting 154 days. It has sailed for 1505.5 hours and 17605.5 nautical miles. The primary mission was to dispatch the 13^th Antarctic expedition team to Zhongshan station to live through winter and summer, maintenance materials and fuels and to carry out research on southern ocean.

●China’s 14^th Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” started China’s 14^th Antarctic expedition from November 15, 1997 to April 1998, lasting 142 days. It has sailed for 1726 hours and 22883 nautical miles. This time they implemented the plan of “one ship three stations” to sail around the Antarctica for the first time. The primary mission was to dispatch the 14^th Antarctic expedition team to Zhongshan station and Great Wall station to live through winter and summer, to transport maintenance materials and fuels to two stations, to carry out research on southern ocean, and to explore the anchorage of two stations. In addition, they loaded five oversize vehicles from Russian youth station to Zhongshan station.

●China’s 15^th Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” started China’s 15^th Antarctic expedition from November 5, 1998 to April 2 1999, lasting 149 days. It has sailed for 1536 hours and 20326 nautical miles. The primary mission was to transport goods and materials to Zhongshan station, to transfer expedition team and to carry out research on southern ocean.

●China’s 16^th Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” started China’s 16^th Antarctic expedition to execute the task of “one ship two stations” from November 1, 1999 to April 5 2000, lasting 157 days. It sailed 27053 nautical miles and cost 51 hours on ice breaking for 43 nautical miles. It set new records of six times disembarking on Antarctica and the longest time of staying there. At the same time, it also set records of the longest voyage, the longest distance of ice breaking and 4 times crossing the subpolar westerlies in one voyage. The primary mission was to do research on ocean and to transport goods to two stations.

●China’s 18^th Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” started China’s 18^th Antarctic expedition from November 15, 2001 to April 2, 2002, lasting 140 days. It sailed 23894 nautical miles (including 28 nautical miles of breaking floating ice and 13.5 nautical miles of breaking shelf ice). The primary mission was to do research on ocean and to transport goods to two stations.

●China’s 19^th Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” started China’s 19^th Antarctic expedition to execute the task of “one ship two stations” from November 20, 2002 to March 20, 2003, lasting 122 days. It sailed over 24000 nautical miles. The primary mission was to do research on ocean and Emory ice shelf and to transport goods to two stations.

●China’s 21^st Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” started China’s 21^st Antarctic expedition from October 25, 2004 to March 24, 2005, lasting 151 days. It sailed over 26500 nautical miles. The primary mission was to do survey on Weddell Sea and Prydz bay, to transport goods to two stations and to do research on DOME-A ice sheet.

●China’s 22^nd Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” polar research vessel sailed over 2200 nautical miles, lasting 131 days. Experiencing the severe environments of the polar area, they have collected 5354 meteorites, including the first lunar meteorites found by Chinese scientists. They also drew an accurate map of Grove mountain.

●China’s 23^rd Antarctic expedition: it set out in December 2006. Key laboratory of State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping of Polar Surveying and Mapping dispatched 7 members to attend the Antarctic expedition, they are Wang Zemin, Meng Yang, Lan Wei, Wu Wenhui, Wang Lianzhong, Hu Guoyuan, and Wang Tao. They did several scientific expedition on Great Wall station and Zhongshan station. One of the important mission was to obtain the 3D image of the Great Wall station.

●China’s 24^th Antarctic expedition: “Xue Long” sailed from Shanghai on November 12, 2007. And on April 15, 2008, the 24^th Antarctic expedition team arrived at the Chinese polar expedition wharf in Shanghai. This was the longest voyage and widest longitude in history. The expedition team fulfilled 46 scientific expedition and 11 logistical support tasks. The Antarctic ice sheet expedition, which has attached international attention, reached a complete success.

●China’s 25^th Antarctic expedition: At 13:18 p.m on December 18 (Beijing time), China’s 25^th Antarctic expedition team gathered near the Zhongshan station and left for “the summit of ice sheet” in Antarctica -- DOME-A to build the first Antarctic research expedition station of China -- Kunlun station.

●China’s 26^th Antarctic expedition: At 10 a.m on October 11, 2009, 251 members took “Xue Long” , leaving from the single user wharf of Chinese polar expedition, to start the 26^th Antarctic expedition. This time it set a new record of the largest number of participants in history. Members included 60 expedition members of Great Wall station, 84 members of Zhongshan station, 30 members of Kunlun station and Grove mountain, 13 members of southern ocean, 2 members of international cooperation and 62 staff. After fulfilling all the tasks, “Xue Long” planned to go back to China on April 10, 2010, with the total voyage of 30000 nautical miles. Three scientific research personnel from Taiwan attended the Chinese Antarctic expedition for the first time.

●China’s 27^th Antarctic expedition: The 27^th Antarctic expedition team took “Xue Long” to Antarctica from Yantian port in Shenzhen on November 11, 2010. This time the expedition team and “Xue Long” undertook the routine tasks, did research on ocean and provided logistical support. On December 4, the 27^th Antarctic expedition team arrived at the Prydz bay near Zhongshan station in advance. All the Antarctic expedition goods and materials including the jade tablet of Kunlun station inscribed by president Hu Jintao have been transported to the assigned place on December 11.

●China’s 28^th Antarctic expedition: The 28^th Antarctic expedition team successfully executed the task of “one ship three stations--Great Wall station, Zhongshan station and Kunlun station”, lasting 163 days. “Xue Long” sailed across Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean and it sailed across the subpolar westerlies for 4 times, which was renowned as huge waves, and crossed the prime meridian twice, totally 12 time zones. It totally sailed over 28000 nautical miles, including over 3900 nautical miles in the ice region.

●China’s 29^th Antarctic expedition: China’s 29^th Antarctic expedition team was officially established and set sail from Guangzhou on November 5, 2012. “Xue Long” arrived at Prydz bay, at 78 degrees east longitude and 65.5 degrees south latitude, on November 31, which marked the beginning of the ocean research of China’s 29^th Antarctic expedition team. The research involved 6 fields, marine hydrology and meteorology, marine geology, marine geophysics, marine chemistry, marine biology and krill resources. They set 10 sections and 107 designed positions, with 67 positions where the water depth was over 1000 meters. The result of the research provided fundamental data for the comprehensive assessment of the climate and the potential of resources such as oil gas, natural gas hydrate and biology.

●China’s 30^th Antarctic expedition: On November 7, 2013, the 30^th Antarctic expedition team sailed from Chinese polar scientific wharf by Xue Long to start its 30^th expedition to Antarctica. This was the first time that Xue Long executed the tasks of sailing around Antarctica. It executed 30 scientific expedition tasks, 15 projects of logistical support and engineering construction. Among them, the most important was to build Chinese fourth Antarctic scientific station on Elizabeth land -- Taishan station. Taishan station is a summer station, located between Zhongshan station and Kunlun station, with an altitude of 2621 meters. In the future it will not only be the support of scientific expedition on Kunlun station, but also be the platform of expedition on Grove mountain in order to expand the field of Chinese Antarctic expedition.

●China’s first Arctic expedition: “Xue Long” executed the first Arctic expedition task from July 1 to September 9, 1999, lasting 71 days. It sailed for 1238 hours and 14094 nautical miles. The primary mission was to investigate the route to the Arctic Ocean and to have a comprehensive research on Arctic ocean, atmosphere, biology, geology, fishery and ecological environment.

●China’s second Arctic expedition: “Xue Long” executed the second Arctic expedition task from July 15 to September 26, 2003, lasting 74 days. It sailed 1070 hours and 14188 nautical miles. It sailed to the depth of 80.15 degrees north latitude, which set a new record of its voyage on Arctic ocean. They carried out comprehensive research on various subjects including ocean, atmosphere, sea ice and biochemistry. They also used advanced technology such as underwater robot to do further research on the interaction among Arctic ocean, sea ice and atmosphere.

●China’s third Arctic expedition: During the third expedition in 2008, Xue Long sailed to the 85.25 degrees north latitude. As Xue Long sailed, the latitude got higher and the range of expedition got wider. While at the same time it also indicated that the sea ice in Arctic was getting melt rapidly. So it is crucial to know the situation of Arctic ice. Once the Arctic glaciers melt, a “Northwest Passage” connected Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean will occur. It will become the shortest seaway between Asia and Europe and will greatly lower the shipping cost. With the rapid melting of Arctic sea ice caused by global warming and the improvement of Chinese expedition, China’s third Arctic expedition is expected to break the record of the last time, which was 80 degrees north latitude, and sails to between 82 to 85 degrees north latitude. This will make an important contribution for human to explore the “Northwest Passage”.

●China’s fourth Arctic expedition: Xue Long executed the fourth Arctic scientific expedition on June 25, 2010. At 4:29 a.m August 6, 2010, Xue Long broke the record of the highest latitude in the history of Chinese voyage -- 85.25 degrees north latitude. Xue Long could almost sail at full speed even in the open channel caused by cracked floating ice.  “The mechanism of the rapid change of Arctic sea ice” and “the response of Arctic marine ecosystem to the change of Arctic sea ice” are two scientific objectives of China’s fourth Arctic expedition.

●China’s fifth Arctic expedition: On the morning of July 2, 2012, the fifth Arctic expedition team departed from Qingdao and sailed to Arctic for scientific expedition by Xue Long. During the 80 days of expedition, they have sailed 18500 nautical miles, including 5370 nautical miles in Arctic ice region and sailed across the Arctic passage between Atlantic and Pacific Ocean for the first time. They have reached at the 87.40 degrees north latitude, which set a new record of crossing the Arctic Ocean from high latitude. They successfully fulfilled the expedition on September 27 and returned in triumph.