中国范儿 98 “雪龙2”号：极地科考的“中国龙”

It can rotate 360 degrees at a standstill and break the ice while moving forward or backward……It is the Xuelong-2, China’s first indigenously built polar research vessel and icebreaker. On July 11, Xuedong-2 was put into service in Shanghai, demonstrating the new breakthroughs China has made in its capability to carry out polar surveys and expeditions.

The Antarctic is perennially shrouded by ice caps that can be thousands of meters thick. Due to their limited ice breaking capabilities, most polar research vessels in the world can only carry out polar surveys and expeditions during the summer season. One typical example here is China’s Xuelong icebreaker, which made its first voyage to the Antarctic in 1994. Compared with Xuelong, Xuelong-2 has made great strides in ice breaking technology.

Xuelong-2 is 122.5 meters long and has a range of around 20,000 nautical miles, which means it is capable to travel across the globe in a single voyage. As a typical example of the mainstream medium-sized icebreakers, Xuelong-2 is the first polar icebreaker in the world that used a two-way ice-breaking technology. Compared with Xuelong, Xuelong-2 has greater structural strength that meets PC3 requirements as well as the two-way icebreaking capability. It can break through 1.5-meter thick ice and 0.2-meter thick snow at a speed of 2-3 knots. It can even break ice ridges of 20 meters high. Xuelong-2 significantly extended the geographical area that China’s polar surveys and expeditions can reach and improved their feasibility in certain seasons. In addition, Xuelong-2 has an electric propulsion system. It is very flexible and can rotate 360 degrees at a standstill. Xuelong-2 is also the first smart polar research vessel of its kind. It has a smart hull, a smart cabin, and an interactive interface, which can assist the helmsman to find the best course to stay away from Ice Mountains.

Ice breaking technology is imperative for the ultimate objective of scientific research and expedition. Equipped with state-of-the-art oceanographic survey and monitoring apparatus, Xuelong-2 installed a scientific monitoring system that features integration and compatibility. It will allow experts to carry out researches like the biodiversity in the ice-cover Polar Regions. Xuelong-2 will serve as an important and underpinning platform for the Chinese scientists to survey the oceanographic conditions in Polar Regions and conduct other scientific researches.

In the future, Xuelong-2 will be readying itself for China’s Polar Survey and Expedition Missions. After its on-board equipment is fine-tuned and tested, Xuelong-2 will join Xuelong on China's 36th Antarctic expedition in the second half of 2019. China is set to usher in a new era in its polar surveys and expeditions.

来源：中国网

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