Chinese polar explorers have become the first people to reach
the summit of Dome A, the highest icecap in Antarctica, planting
the flag there at 3.16 AM Beijing time on Tuesday.
Qu Tanzhou, director of the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic
Administration, said the 12-strong team had been working for
several days to pinpoint the peak's exact location.
They recorded it as 80:22:00 degrees south, 77:21:11 degrees
east and 4,093 meters above sea level.
The scientists have set up an automatic weather observation
system on the dome that can function at minus 90 degrees
Centigrade. The system, developed jointly by China and Australia,
transmits real-time information on local temperature, humidity,
solar radiation, wind power and direction and atmospheric pressure
via satellite.
The expedition drilled 100 meters down through the ice and will
collect samples to study.
They also plan to establish an interim scientific observation
station to monitor the climatic environment, measure the depth of
the icecap and obtain further samples from depths of 150 to 200
meters.
The team is scheduled to descend on Thursday but they will leave
an impromptu commemorative structure made from 13 empty oil drums
topped with a flag.
The Antarctic icecap accounts for 70 percent of the earth's
freshwater resources. It has an average thickness of around 2,450
meters, reaching more than 4,000 meters in some places.
Climate-induced change in the continent's glaciers could
noticeably affect sea levels. According to scientists worldwide,
Antarctica's ice can provide high-quality information for research
into global climatic changes.
The explorers will stay in the area for 10 to 15 days and then
return to their base at Zhongshan Station on the coast, where they
disembarked on December 14 before traveling 1,200 kilometers inland
to the formidable and dangerous location of Dome A.
Another important task for the expedition is to choose a site
for a permanent research station near Dome A, a project included in
China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).
China has already built two research stations, Changcheng and
Zhongshan, but neither is located inland.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2005)