en.Wedoany.com Reported - Wedoany News, May 18 — The polar research icebreaker "Xuelong 2" successfully arrived at its home port in Shanghai, marking the successful conclusion of China's 42nd Antarctic expedition. The expedition lasted 199 days, covering a total voyage of over 35,000 nautical miles.
On November 1, 2025, the expedition team departed from Shanghai, with both the "Xuelong" and "Xuelong 2" vessels supporting the mission. "Xuelong 2" returned after completing the joint "Autumn Southern Ocean Ecosystem" voyage in the Prydz Bay area of Antarctica, successively overcoming extreme weather conditions such as complex ice situations, gales, and heavy snowstorms.
During the expedition, "Xuelong 2" efficiently completed personnel transport and material resupply missions for Zhongshan Station and Great Wall Station, and carried out comprehensive surveys at 79 stations in areas including the Antarctic Peninsula waters, the Cosmonaut Sea, and Prydz Bay. The expedition accumulated over 20,000 samples of seawater, organisms, and sediments, and preserved over 3,400 GB of on-site observation and shipborne equipment data.
Notably, the expedition team conducted a comprehensive survey deep into Prydz Bay in autumn for the first time. The autumn voyage assembled 97 scientific researchers from six countries, including China, Australia, the United States, and South Korea, conducting multidisciplinary joint observations on scientific issues such as ice shelf melting, carbon sequestration mechanisms, and biological overwintering strategies, filling in critical data for the autumn and winter season research of the Antarctic marginal seas.
China's 42nd Antarctic expedition involved 550 team members from 125 domestic and international institutions, achieving multiple advances in major project promotion, autonomous equipment testing, and international cooperation.
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