China team first on peak
19/1/2005 8:20
A 12-man Chinese expedition reached the highest icecap peak in Antarctica
at 3:16am yesterday, according to the polar expedition office of the State
Oceanic Administration.
They are the first people to reach the peak of Dome A
Icecap 4,039 meters above sea level.
The peak is 80:22:00 degrees south
latitude and 77:21:11 degrees east longitude.
The team planned to establish
an interim scientific observation station at the spot to monitor the climatic
environment, measure the depth of the icecap and obtain ice sample from 150
meters to 200 meters below the surface, the SOA said.
The team will also look
for the right location for the third Chinese scientific research station in
Antarctica.
With the existing Changcheng (Great Wall) and Zhongshan stations
the new post will form a regional climate monitoring system, fulfilling China's
mission in an international Antarctic research program.
The team has obtained
an ice sample nearly 100 meters long from a section about 300 meters below the
icecap peak, the first that humans have got at the highest icecap peak in
Antarctica and a crucial clue to climatic and environmental changes.
The
Chinese scientists have also set up an automatic weather observation system at
the peak that may function at minus-90 degrees Celsius.
The system, jointly
developed by China and Australia, sends out real-time information about local
temperature, moisture, solar radiation, wind power and direction, atmospheric
pressure and temperature through satellite.
The team is scheduled to withdraw
tomorrow but leave a commemorative mark formed by 13 empty oil casks and a
national flag at the peak.
The Antarctic icecap, the largest continental
glacier on the surface of the earth, accounts for 70 percent of the earth's
fresh water.
The icecap has an average thickness of about 2,450 meters and is
more than 4,000 meters thick in spots.
Climate-induced change in the bulk of
the Antarctic glaciers will noticeably affect the sea level.
The glaciers can
provide information for research into global climatic
changes.
Xinhua
|
