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January 28, 2021, Ross Sea Floating Ice Area.

The low dark clouds blocked the sunshine in the extreme daytime area, the cold wind whistled between heaven and earth, and the heavy snow like goose feathers hit the windows like ice particles in the wind.

After the two generals went to Forgot Hanchuan, Shao Zifeng thought Chen Yixin would come to her to talk about the infection, but she seemed to have never happened to her.

However, after they left, the Snow Dragon, which had been docked in the Ross Sea for a long time, started its journey again. This floating ice area is like a pure white ice field, the last barrier between the Ross Sea and the Antarctic continent, and one of the most risky areas during the trip to Antarctic.

Click!

The continuous sound of shattering echoed in the wind and snow. The bow of the Snow Dragon was like a sharp blade, cutting through the solid ice layer and slowly advancing, like a piece of white paper being slowly torn apart.

The Snow Dragon left a long black trail behind and quickly refrozen in low temperatures.

"Captain, my ship has entered the floating ice area, and the thickness of the ice layer ahead is gradually approaching 1.5 meters."

In the control room of the bridge, the captain, who was walking back and forth with his hands behind his back, stood still when he heard this, held the back of the second pair of chairs with one hand, bent down and looked in front of the screen for a while.

"After notifying, the bow water storage bin is ready to be filled, the bow propeller is preheated, and the main propeller increases its horsepower to rush the ice!"

"Yes! The water storage bin starts to fill it."

“The liquid chamber is ready.”

...

“The bow propeller preheating is completed.”

"The propeller is turned on, ready to drain the ice ahead."

...

"The main propeller has been opened to its maximum and is ready."

The captain's instructions were completed in an orderly manner. He nodded with satisfaction, staring at the measured ice thickness on the screen.

1.43 meters.

1.47 meters.

1.51 meters.

"Start the ice!"

"Yes, start rushing to ice!"

Rumble!

The control room suddenly trembled, and the outside kept creaking.

The Snow Dragon was like a wild horse that broke free from its reins. The bow of the ship suddenly rushed onto the solid ice layer. As the weight gradually increased and decreased, the ice layer below the Snow Dragon quickly cracked and collapsed.

Hurry!

As the ice shattered, the hull hit the sea water heavily and caused a large splash of water.

The next moment, the Xuelong rushed to the ice layer in front again and began to break the ice again and again.

"Wow~"

A bump suddenly came, and the coffee in Cang Haiyuan's hand splashed out. Shao Zifeng quickly moved his feet away before avoiding the disaster.

This is a small reception room. In order to alleviate the loneliness of traveling to Antarctica, there are many reception rooms with such themes on the Xuelong.

The reception room is not large in size, only enough for three or four friends to chat, but the decoration of each reception room is very different.

For example, the room they are decorated in a European style with a low luxury style.

There are thick wool blankets on the ground, and above the wool blankets are a European-style coffee table and four sofa chairs of the same style.

Red flames swayed in the fireplace display on the walls, making crackling sounds from time to time.

Qiuqiu seemed to like this fireplace very much, it nestled next to the fireplace and became a ball.

The vinyl recorder next to the fireplace was playing music, but Shao Zifeng turned it off because he was afraid of disturbing Qiuqiu's sleep.

In addition, there are some other small decorations for clothes hangers and coffee machines, which make people completely forget that they are on a boat heading to the Antarctic continent.

Rumble!

Before Shao Zifeng could speak, the Xuelong again tilted briefly, and various trembling sounds came faintly.

The balls made of balls rolled around in the room, and when Shao Zifeng picked them up, the little guy's eyes flashed with excitement.

"Yeah~"

Qiuqiu was in a good mood and threw herself into Shao Zifeng's arms and acted coquettishly. After a while, she fell asleep again.

After drinking the remaining coffee in the cup, Cang Haiyuan stretched his neck and looked out.

Because the indoor and outdoor temperature difference is extremely large, the porthole is covered with a thick layer of water vapor.

Cang Haiyuan stood up and wiped off the water vapor.

"Tsk, I didn't expect to start breaking the ice in a crash style now."

Shao Zifeng held Qiuqiu, who was sleeping in his arms, and threw a questioning look at Cang Haiyuan.

When he walked back and put the cup on the table, Cang Haiyuan took out a tissue and wiped the coffee stains on his body and explained: "Modern polar icebreakers generally adopt two methods. One is to break ice in a continuous manner, which means relying on the special bow of the icebreaker to cut the ice layer and open the waterway under the promotion of its own powerful power. However, this is only suitable for ice layers with a thickness of 1.5 or less."

"The other is the 'collision' icebreaker that the Snow Dragon now uses. It is probably to use the front propeller to extract the water supported under the ice, then increase the horsepower and rush onto the ice layer, and rely on the icebreaker's own weight to crush the ice layer."

After saying that, he crossed his hands behind his head and leaned lazily on the sofa: "It seems that he will not be able to sleep well again tonight."

Shao Zifeng gently stroked Qiuqiu's rugged armor, turned to look at the gloomy dark clouds outside the board: "After passing this floating ice area, it's the Antarctic continent."

"Yes, the new Ross Sea station under construction on the island of Enksburg, our destination this time is expected to arrive in two days based on the speed of the current few knots."

"New Station?" Shao Zifeng was stunned: "Isn't our first stop the Great Wall Station on King George Island?"

Cang Haiyuan sighed and put his legs on the coffee table in front of him.

"This ship transports a lot of decoration materials, and we need to dock there for a while to provide construction materials and supplies to the workers who are working on the construction of a new station."

As a person who didn't even know that there was a seasonal distinction between Antarctic before, the only understanding of Daxia's scientific research station at Antarctic is the Great Wall Station built in the early years.

As for the scientific research stations in Zhongshan, Kunlun and Taishan, I only slowly learned about it after getting on the boat. Why did a new Rosshai station pop up?

"Where is the Great Wall Station?"

"I won't go..." Cang Haiyuan had a bitter face: "The Great Wall Station is located on King George Island. Strictly speaking, it is not even considered an Antarctic scientific research station, because that place is outside the Antarctic Circle. As the first scientific research station in my country, its symbolic significance is greater."

"If we have plenty of time, the purpose of the first stop is indeed the Great Wall Station, but now..." Cang Haiyuan smacked his lips: "According to Professor Chen's intention, we got off the boat at the new Ross Bay station, and then headed inland until the 'Ice Dome', located at the highest point of the inland ice sheet in Antarctica, where our summer scientific research station 'Kunlun Station' is."

"Crossing the Inland of Antarctica?"

Shao Zifeng was shocked by Chen Yixin's bold idea.

As the last pure land in the world, Antarctica is not only protected by laws of various countries, but also its harsh environment that is almost forbidden to life.

The Antarctic continent has severe cold climate, with many strong storms and blizzards, dry air and sparse precipitation.

Due to the high altitude, thin air, and the reflection of the surface of ice and snow to the solar radiation, the Antarctic continent has become the coldest region in the world, with an average temperature of 20℃ lower than that of the Arctic.

The annual average temperature in the Antarctic continent is -25℃, the annual average temperature in coastal areas of Antarctica is about minus 17 to minus 20℃, and the annual average temperature in inland areas is minus 40 to minus 50℃.

This means that if they set off from Rosshai New Station to Kunlun Station in the Inland Ice Dome, the environment will only become worse and worse and the temperature will become lower and lower.

If it's just cold, it's fine. The three-piece cold-proof clothes we're equipped with now is enough to resist the cold.

But in addition to low temperatures, the Antarctic continent is also the region with the largest wind force in the world.

There are 300 strong winds above level 8 per year here, with an average annual wind speed of 19.4 meters per second.

In addition, human scientists have observed hurricanes with wind speeds of 100 meters per second in Antarctica, which is three times that of a typhoon of a 12th class and the largest wind speed recorded in the world so far.

To put it bluntly, perhaps many people do not have specific concepts.

Dr. Fukushima, who conducted a scientific investigation at the Fuso Science Expedition Station in 1960, walked out of the canteen of the base to feed the dogs.

A short distance of tens of meters, a blizzard with a wind speed of 35 meters per second was encountered. After the blizzard passed, Dr. Fukushima also disappeared.

It was not until 7 years later that his body was found 4.2 kilometers away from the scientific research station. This is the power of the Antarctic storm.

Once blown away by the strong wind in Antarctica, there is basically no possibility of returning alive. Even if you are not killed by luck, you will die in despair with rapid despair.

The wind and snow outside the porthole were still there, and the tremor of the Snow Dragon breaking through the ice layer came faintly.

There was no other sound in the room except for the electronic fireplace crackling.

Cang Haiyuan looked at the coffee machine at the door. He gave up the idea of ​​drinking coffee because of the lazy cancer attack.

"If there is enough time, according to the original plan, we will stay at Great Wall Station for a while, then detour to the new station to unload the building materials, and finally arrive at Zhongshan Station located in the Rasman Hills of the East Antarctic continent."

"Zhongshan Station is the starting point to Kunlun Station. It is not only closer to the distance, but also to Taishan Station for replenishment in the middle."

"But you also know that we have been delaying our voyage for too long. Now this window period in Antarctica is constantly shortening, and the time left for the scientific research team is getting shorter and shorter."

"According to the current speed of the icebreaker, it is probably not the end of summer when we arrive at Zhongshan Station, so Professor Chen is unwilling to waste time on the icebreaker again."

Shao Zifeng understands the truth, perhaps because of Chen Zhenglong's relationship or Chen Yixin's contempt for life, Shao Zifeng is inexplicably annoyed.

"But even so, she didn't know what the Antarctic continent is? This kind of thing is easy to say, but in reality, it is equivalent to traveling half a continent from Rosshai New Station. At such a long distance, you have to carry various instruments, daily necessities, and supplies? Eat snow?"
To be continued...