Antarctica - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Buildings at Chinese research base Zhongshan station
2. Various of members of China's 40th Antarctic expedition team's overwintering squad at Zhongshan Station walking in snow
3. Various of members repairing camera
4. Buildings
5. Various of Wang Yongping, member of China's 40th Antarctic expedition team's overwintering squad at Zhongshan Station, walking
6. Notebook recording laser radar observation
7. Various of facilities at laser radar observation building; Wang working
8. Components of equipment
9. Various of Wang checking operation of equipment
10. Equipment
11. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Yongping, member, China's 40th Antarctic expedition team's overwintering squad at Zhongshan Station (starting with shot 10/ending with shot 12):
"When encountering particularly difficult problems, we need to contact domestic engineers and ask them to help deal with those more complex problems."
12. Equipment
13. Building
14. Various of Zhang Lei, member of China's 40th Antarctic expedition team's overwintering squad at Zhongshan Station, walking
15. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Lei, member, China's 40th Antarctic expedition team's overwintering squad at Zhongshan Station (starting with shot 14/ending with shot 16):
"If there is no snow, I can walk faster and it takes me 15 minutes each way. If there is snow in the winter, I need to walk longer, sometimes about half an hour, at least twice a day. Sometimes the snow here is very thick in winter, about waist high at its deepest."
16. Perpetual snow
17. Various of Zhang operating device
18. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Lei, member, China's 40th Antarctic expedition team's overwintering squad at Zhongshan Station:
"We need to monitor the content of some gases in the atmosphere over a long period of time, especially that of greenhouse gases, which helps us study and predict future trends in climate change."
19. Various of Antarctic expedition team members walking
20. Various of perpetual snow

FILE: Antarctica - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
21. Aerial shots of China's scientific expedition vessel sailing

During the one-year mission, members of China's 40th Antarctic expedition team's overwintering squad have successfully ensured the normal operation of the Zhongshan Station, a Chinese research base in Antarctica, and the smooth completion of various scientific research tasks by stationing in the freezing conditions.

The 20 members of the squad, including eight researchers and 12 logistical support members, arrived at the Zhongshan Station on Nov 30, 2023. They have recently concluded their mission at the Zhongshan Station.

Built in 1989, the Zhongshan Station is China's second permanent research property in Antarctica, located at the Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica. It serves as a key hub for inland expeditions and supports research in meteorological observation, oceanography, and geology, among others.

Wu Peng, 29, is the youngest member of the expedition team at the Zhongshan Station and is mainly responsible for the maintenance of network communications and electronic equipment by joining hands with his colleagues.

Different from Wu, Wang Yongping is mainly responsible for the maintenance of the equipment in the laser radar observation building.

He has to walk along the mountainous road twice a day to check the operation of equipment when it is extremely cold at polar night.

The polar atmosphere is a key area for the interaction between the sun and the Earth, while the middle and upper atmosphere is a blind spot for radio radar and sounding balloon detection. Therefore, the deployment of laser radar for observing the middle and upper atmosphere at the Zhongshan Station can fill the gap in the study of the impact of space weather activities in the polar cusps on the atmosphere, said Wang.

The laser radar observation point, established by the country's 35th Antarctic expedition team and upgraded and expanded by the 36th expedition team, has now entered the normal operation stage.

The optimum time for laser radar observation is from June to August each year, a period with the coldest weather to challenge not only people's will but also the reliability of the equipment there.

"When encountering particularly difficult problems, we need to contact domestic engineers and ask them to help deal with those more complex problems," said Wang.

Zhang Lei, another member of the team, needs to walk to the farthest atmospheric observation building at the station every day to monitor the atmospheric composition.

"If there is no snow, I can walk faster and it takes me 15 minutes each way. If there is snow in winter, I need to walk longer, sometimes about half an hour, at least twice a day. Sometimes the snow here is very thick in winter, about waist high at its deepest," said Zhang.

Monitoring atmospheric composition is of great importance, as it is closely linked to climate change, Zhang noted.

"We need to monitor the content of some gases in the atmosphere over a long period of time, especially that of greenhouse gases, which helps us study and predict future trends in climate change," said Zhang.

China's 41st Antarctic expedition team set sail on Nov 1 this year, starting a mission expected to last nearly seven months.

Researchers there will build the supporting infrastructure for the Qinling Station in Antarctica, investigate the impact of climate change on the Antarctic ecosystem, and conduct international research and logistics cooperation.

The expedition will be carried out by three ships: research icebreakers Xuelong and Xuelong 2, or Snow Dragon and Snow Dragon 2, and cargo vessel Yong Sheng.