Following a return trip of more than 1,200 kilometers that took 21 days, the inland icecap team of China's 25th Antarctic expedition team safely returned to the Antarctic Zhongshan Station at around 2 pm on February 23, local time, after successfully completing construction of the Kunlun Station. Team members were all in good physical and psychological health.

The Antarctic inland team is responsible for building China's first Antarctic inland station on Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic inland icecap, as well as conducting scientific expedition missions on the Antarctic inland. Departing from Zhongshan Station on December 18, 2008, and following 20 days of arduous trekking, the team successfully scaled Dome A at 11:55 pm on January 6, 2009.

On January 27, the Kunlun Station stood tall on the Antarctic inland's core area at a height of 4,087 meters.

While on Dome A and also on the way back, the inland expedition team completed various scientific expedition missions in cross-section research between Dome A and the Zhongshan Station, as part of the core of China's action plan, "PANDA," for the International Polar Year.

The team set up the first GPS automatic tracking station in the Kunlun Station and drilled and collected a 62-meter-long shallow ice core. On the way back, the inland expedition team captain Li Yuansheng and team members once again drilled and collected a 90-meter-long ice core. They also installed various seismographs and magnetometers, performed maintenance of the automatic weather station and collected massive amounts of snow and ice samples.

By People's Daily Online