A member of China's 13th Arctic Ocean scientific expedition team shows a starfish retrieved after a trawl operation aboard China's polar icebreaker Xuelong 2, Aug. 4, 2023.

With the completion of a seawater sample collection operation, the main tasks of the first phase of China's 13th Arctic Ocean scientific expedition have all been completed.

The expedition, organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources, is intended to conduct investigations into the geology and geophysics of the mid-ocean ridge, as well as atmospheric, sea ice, marine and subsurface environmental surveys, and surveys of biomes and pollutants. (Xinhua/Wei Hongyi)