Antarctica - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Icebreaker Xuelong 2 sailing at sea
2. Various of Moon Pool Workshop, equipment
3. Various of researchers working on board icebreaker
4. Various of research equipment sinking in water
5. Monitor showing data
6. Various of research equipment getting out of water, researchers applauding
7. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) He Jianfeng, principal investigator, Xuelong 2 (partially overlaid with shots 8/ending with shots 9):
"This moon pool system is a core part of Xuelong 2. It is different from other scientific research vessel. It is able to perform sampling operations in ice area, especially in areas with thick ice."
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8. Various of seafloor investigation equipment
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9. Xuelong 2 sailing on ice, deck of vessel
10. Various of researchers working on icebreaker
11. Xuelong 2 sailing on ice, floating ice

China's first domestically made polar icebreaker Xuelong 2 has recently operated the moon pool system on board, a platform allowing researchers to lower instruments into the sea with extensive coverage of ice floes, for underwater exploration in Antarctica.

The home-made moon pool, as one of the newly applied systems in the vessel, refers to a cavity that is perpendicular to the sea surface, running through the hull and connecting to the sea water.

It can be used to measure the conductivity, temperature, and pressure of seawater in a large area full of ice floes, and to carry out scientific research in dense ice areas.

"This moon pool system is a core part of Xuelong 2. It is different from other scientific research vessel. It is able to perform sampling operations in ice area, especially in areas with thick ice," said He Jianfeng, principal investigator on Xuelong 2.

Researchers lowered a 22-meter columnar sediment sampler into the sea through the moon pool system to obtain hydrological, chemical and ecological data in Antarctica.

Xuelong 2 set off on its maiden polar voyage on Oct. 15 from Shenzhen City of south China's Guangdong Province.

With 413 scientists, researchers and supporting staff members, the voyage is a major part of China's 36th Antarctic Expedition.

Xuelong 2 measures 122.5 meters long, with a beam of 22.3 meters and a draft of 8.3 meters at full load. It has a displacement of 14,300 tons. The vessel has a diesel-electric propulsion system, with two 16-cylinder and two 12-cylinder engines that give it a speed of up to 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) in open water and 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) when breaking ice. Its ice class is Polar Class 3 and it is able to break ice up to 1.5 meters thick while traveling either ahead or astern.

Xuelong 2 is larger than the 15,300-ton Ukraine-built Xuelong which is currently still in active service.