China’s 16th Arctic expedition advances ice-station surveys

China's icebreaker Xuelong 2 began its first ice station survey operation in the central Arctic Ocean on Sunday, near 84 degrees north latitude, during the country's 16th Arctic expedition.

The icebreaker will carry out more than 20 research tasks at seven ice stations, including deploying ice-based drifting buoys, collecting ice cores and conducting remote sensing observations of sea ice.

The mission aims to collect comprehensive data on changes in the Arctic environment, including the atmosphere, sea ice, upper ocean and under-ice ecosystems amid the region's melting sea ice.

The scientific data collected will support research into the rapid changes in Arctic sea ice, the mechanisms driving those changes, and the evolution of Arctic marine ecosystems.

Prior to Xuelong 2's ice station survey operation, the icebreaker Xuelong wrapped up all 12 planned ice-station tasks on Friday after deploying the final set of ice-based buoys.

Working under tight constraints from live ice conditions and narrow operational windows, the team completed the transport and logistical support of all on-ice scientific gear and deployed more than 30 ice-based buoys across the stations.

The work covered integrated observations of the atmospheric boundary layer, sea-ice physics, sub-ice ecology and the under-ice ocean, generating in-situ, long-term datasets to trace how the coupled atmosphere-sea-ice-ocean system evolves amid rapid changes in Arctic sea ice.

The expedition has also established an unattended observation network across the Arctic Ocean and put domestically developed advanced marine instruments through testing and operational application.

China's 16th Arctic expedition started on July 3 as three oceanographic research ships, namely Xuelong, Xuelong 2 and Jidi, departed from the coastal city of Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

This expedition, organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and jointly carried out by the three ships and another research ship Tansuo-3, is expected to be completed in early October this year.

China’s 16th Arctic expedition advances ice-station surveys

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he is "likewise demanding compensation from Iran," noting that he has instructed his representatives to put this into any future negotiations.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that he saw that "Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict," but claimed it was "never mentioned" in any negotiations or meetings.

Calling it "an interesting idea," Trump said that he is "likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts."

In another post shortly after, Trump said that "Iran should be responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza."

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said that the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened until the United States "corrects its behavior," Iranian media reported Saturday.

Zolghadr noted that the reopening of the strait depends on the United States meeting a series of conditions: it must permanently end the war against Iran and its armed allies in the region; it must stop threatening Iran; it must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports; it must compensate Iran for war damage; and it must lift sanctions and "unconditionally" release frozen or seized assets.

Trump says he is "likewise demanding compensation from Iran"