China's research icebreaker Xuelong, also known as Snow Dragon, had completed surveys at 12 ice stations as of Friday during the country's 16th Arctic expedition, marking the highest number of stations recorded in a single-ship Arctic Ocean survey.
Organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the 16th Arctic expedition began on July 3 and is expected to be completed in early October this year.
The expedition is jointly carried out by four oceanographic research ships, namely Xuelong, Xuelong 2, Jidi and Tansuo-3.
The expedition focuses on responding to global climate change and its impacts, conducting comprehensive surveys and monitoring in fields such as sea ice, hydrology, biology, ecology, and the atmospheric environment in key areas of the Arctic Ocean.
To measure the mechanical properties of sea ice in the Arctic environment, the team members spent six hours collecting a one-ton ice cube sample. The ice cube, measuring 1.3 meters thick and 1.2 meters wide, was cut and gathered using tools such as ice core drills and chainsaws.
"Sea ice's mechanical properties affect how strong it is. If our ship runs into tough, hard ice while traveling through ice-covered waters, it can make navigation difficult and may even damage the ship's structure. That's why we need to test the mechanical properties to help guide the design of ship structures," said Sun Kai, a member of China's 16th Arctic expedition team.
The team also built an unmanned observation network for the Arctic Ocean and tested domestically produced marine observation equipment, which has now been put into operation.
"This year's missions are quite demanding. For the hydrology work, we need many sets of the same type of ice-based ocean profiling buoys -- around a dozen -- so we have set up 12 ice stations," said Qu Meng, leader of the sea ice team of the expedition mission.
The ice-based shallow-water profiling buoys, ice-based deep-water profiling buoys and sea ice drifting buoys, which have been deployed in the highest number during this voyage, have achieved an average localization rate of over 90 percent.
"From the most basic equipment, such as drifting buoys and sea-ice mass-balance buoys, to the current unmanned ecological ice stations and other equipment, the variety of our domestically produced equipment will continue to become more complete," said He Jianfeng, chief scientist of the team.
The team deployed an unmanned ecological ice station—the first application demonstration of this system in the Arctic—which will help researchers better understand how organisms beneath the ice survive the polar night.
"By combining acoustic, optical and electronic technologies, the unmanned ecological ice station system can provide long-term, continuous observations of the atmosphere, ice, sea and the ecosystem below the ice in the central Arctic region. Overall, this represents the first time the system has gathered acoustic, optical and electronic data from the shallow subglacial layer of polar ice," said An Baobao, another member of the team.
Chinese icebreaker Xuelong completes surveys at 12 ice stations, breaks record
Emergency crews have been screening for hazards and have reinforced roadside slopes to guarantee safe transportation along the only land route leading to the core area of the mudslide-hit Guirong Port in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.
The mudslide struck the Gyirong Port in Xigaze City of Xizang on August 26, leaving at least 43 people dead and 519 others missing as rescue operations continue.
The disaster cut off an approximately three-kilometer stretch of the G216 National Highway, which was the only road leading into the Gyirong border port with Nepal, forcing rescuers to either be flown in by helicopter or embark on hours-long treks on foot through treacherous mountain terrain to reach the site.
Rescue teams undertook a week-long operation to clear debris and restore access, allowing heavy machinery in and enabling relief supplies and a greater number of personnel to reach the core affected area last Wednesday.
Fears over the occurrence of secondary disasters have remained a concern for authorities and in order to keep this critical road link safe and clear, multiple teams have since carried out a series of surveys and careful monitoring activities around the site.
They have identified 58 spots with potential geological hazards along the relevant sections of the highway, where they have installed monitoring devices to ensure quick response should any possible rockfalls or landslides occur.
"We have set up a radar in a proper position to monitor the area around the roadside slope. Should a rockfall or landslide occur, we will promptly report to the command center, which will then contact other relevant departments to implement traffic control on that section of the road or carry out further clearing and protection measures," said Yuan Yunxing, deputy head of the National Safe Production Emergency Rescue Survey Team.
In addition, road authorities have conducted further on-site investigations into these most at-risk areas and have reinforced roadside slopes to protect passing-by rescue vehicles.
"This area may need a drapery system to make sure these loose rocks won't fall down the slope and affect the smooth traffic on this lifeline," said Ga Ridi, an employee of the China Railway Beijing Group, a state-owned engineering firm called in to assist with the relief work.
Meanwhile, workers have also laid steel gabion baskets along the outer edge of the road to prevent the erosion caused by river currents. They have also prepared extra gabion baskets for future extensions of the facilities should rain raise water levels on the nearby river.
Experts have also been assessing river levels in the wake of the mudslide, which was triggered by the collapse of a high-altitude glacier in the upper reaches of the Cuojian River on the Nepalese side of the border.
Based on drone footage and remote sensing images, the water flow is currently normal both upstream and downstream of the impact crater left by the glacier collapse, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Monday.
The Purepu Tsangpo barrier lake, which formed after the mudslide upstream of the Gyirong Port and which once hampered rescue operations with high breaching risks, has been drained out naturally, and small mudslide dams in the lower reaches have shown no significant changes and normal water flows, the ministry said, warning risks remain that they may further collapse to form new barrier lakes.
Rescuers take measures to secure safe road access to mudslide-hit Gyirong Port
