Research starts on advanced icebreaker

[cirr]

Xuelong 3？

Research starts on advanced icebreaker

2018-03-07 09:58 China Daily Editor: Li Yan

A helicopter transports goods and materials from China's research icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, to Zhongshan Station in the Antarctic in December. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chinese scientists have begun preliminary research on a next-generation icebreaker capable of lengthy research missions in the Arctic and Antarctica, according to the program's chief designer.

"The new type will be much stronger when it comes to capabilities in breaking ice and resisting extreme cold," Wu Gang, from the Marine Design and Research Institute of China in Shanghai, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

"It will be able to break ice about 3 meters thick and withstand -45 C, which means it can stay for a long time in polar regions," he said.

The new type of research icebreaker will be assigned long-term scientific expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctica, helping other ships enter polar regions and responding to emergencies in ice-covered areas.

Though some heavy-duty polar icebreakers are nuclear-powered, this new ship will use a conventional propulsion system, Wu said.

Experts with knowledge of the program said there are two reasons for that: First, modern non-nuclear propulsion technology has become capable of powering heavy-duty icebreakers; second, conventional systems are easier to maintain than nuclear ones.

The next-generation icebreaker will complete China's global marine survey network and extensively boost its polar research, Wu said.

China now operates a sole icebreaker, Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, which was designed for cargo transportation rather than scientific research operations when it was built in Ukraine in 1993. The ship was purchased by China and converted to a polar research and resupply vessel. It has fulfilled dozens of scientific expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica.

Meanwhile, China State Shipbuilding Corp is constructing the country's second - and the first domestically designed - research icebreaker, tentatively known as Xuelong 2, at its Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai. The construction started in December 2016 and is scheduled to be finished in 2019.

The ship will be able to break 1.5-m-thick ice and endure - 30 C. It has good mobility and incorporates strict environmental protection measures, Wu said.

In another development, China Ship Development and Design Center, part of China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, is designing fishing ships for domestic users to catch Antarctic krill, a small crustacean often used as animal feed and bait. The center is also assisting the Ministry of Agriculture with the country's first guidebook on construction of polar fishing ships, the center said.

China has been paying a lot of attention to scientific research and peaceful development in polar regions. It has conducted 34 Antarctic expeditions and eight Arctic explorations. The government published a white paper, China's Antarctic Activities, in May and another, China's Arctic Policy, in January.

According to guidelines from the State Council, which aims to boost the transfer of defense technologies to civilian sectors, the government supports research and development of advanced ships for polar scientific and resource survey operations.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/03-07/294848.shtml

 

[cirr]

Unmanned polar station 'successful'

2018-03-07 09:50 China Daily Editor: Li Yan

The first Chinese unmanned weather station deployed at Dome Argus, the highest point on the Antarctic Plateau, has been hailed a success after completing a full year of testing.

The automatic station is the result of intense research by the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences.

On Monday, the China Meteorological Administration said the result means the country has become the third nation - joining Australia and the United States - capable of automatically measuring climate conditions in the coldest regions of the Antarctic ice sheet.

"Construction of the station was completed on Jan 6 last year on Dome Argus, which has a surface elevation of 4,093 meters," said Ding Minghu, deputy director of the academy's Institute of Polar Meteorology. "After a year of testing, it has successfully been collecting weather data without once breaking down.

"The station has managed several times to record ultralow temperatures below -70 C. On July 10, it recorded a temperature of -78.9 C, the lowest ever recorded at the spot."

Ding added that the efficiency and accuracy of the statistics have been proven by comparative data collected by other countries' automatic weather stations.

Zhang Xia, a researcher with the Polar Research Institute of China, said the automatic and unmanned weather station is necessary because it is difficult for people to stay for extended periods in the extreme Antarctic conditions.

"This automated weather station makes contributions to many areas," he said. "It secures China's research activities in the Antarctic through improving our independent research and development capacity. Also, it helps establish a global meteorological system by sharing the data collected.

"Moreover, it allows better weather forecasts for flights or other aircraft operations that fly over or stop in the area."

According to the meteorological administration, the academy has conducted research on facilities for automated weather stations that are durable in ultralow temperatures since 2010, including battery technology, wind direction detectors and energy control systems.

After eight years of field testing, and two consecutive failures in 2015 and 2016, the academy succeeded in developing effective sensors and energy control systems, it said.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/03-07/294842.shtml