At Sea - Nov 5-8, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of polar research icebreaker sailing with China's 42nd Antarctic expedition team aboard; equipment
2. Various of lectures in progress onboard Xuelong polar research icebreaker, screen showing Antarctica, plan for drilling into Qilin Subglacial Lake
3. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Guo Jingxue, head, subglacial lake team, China's 42nd Antarctic expedition team (ending with shots 4-5):
"Qilin Subglacial Lake is uniquely located in the stable inland area of East Antarctica. It is estimated to have formed approximately 3 million years ago, making it an ideal area for exploring subglacial lakes and life in extreme environments."
4. Screen showing drilling plan
5. Lecture in progress
6. Various of polar research icebreaker sailing

China's 42nd Antarctic expedition team is preparing to, for the first time, drill into a subglacial lake buried over 3,600 meters deep beneath the ice cap in Antarctica.

During the expedition, the team plans to conduct scientific drilling experiments in the Qilin Subglacial Lake for the first time, said Wei Fuhai, leader of China's 42nd Antarctic expedition team.

Using domestically built hot-water and thermal-melting drill systems, the team will carry out clean drilling and sampling through ice of 3,600 meters thick, said Wei.

China has made some early-stage preparations for the scientific drilling of the lake.

The Qilin Subglacial Lake, which was named by China in 2022, is located in the Princess Elizabeth Land in the East Antarctic inland ice sheet.

As the second-largest buried lake discovered so far in Antarctica, the lake has a developing history of around 3 million years of isolation from the outside world.

Based on cumulative data, the subglacial lake is estimated to have a surface area of 370 square kilometers with a water depth of up to 200 meters.

"Qilin Subglacial Lake is uniquely located in the stable inland area of East Antarctica. It is estimated to have formed approximately 3 million years ago, making it an ideal area for exploring subglacial lakes and life in extreme environments," said Guo Jingxue, head of the subglacial lake team of China's 42nd Antarctic expedition team, in a lecture aboard Xuelong polar research icebreaker.

The team is carrying out the mission onboard Xuelong and Xuelong 2 polar research icebreakers, and is scheduled to conclude the mission by May 2026.

Both icebreakers have now crossed the equator and entered the Southern Hemisphere.

Long covered by the ice sheet, the Antarctic subglacial lakes have unique high-pressure, low-temperature, low-nutrient and dark environmental conditions that provide unique information on biological evolution, climate change as well as the evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet.

To further advance understanding of Antarctica's role in global climate change, the expedition team will collect long-term observational records in key regions such as the Amundsen Sea and Ross Sea.

Scientific drilling is the only means of obtaining physical samples from subglacial lakes. Since 2012, the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia have carried out drilling into and taken samples from three other subglacial lakes in Antarctica.