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China's Antarctic inland team arrives at Dome Argus

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-07 14:12

ANTARCTICA -- China's 25th Antarctic expedition team arrived at Antarctica's Dome Argus (Dome A) zone after a 20-day march of about 1,250 km, leader of the team told Xinhua Wednesday.

The team late Tuesday arrived at the destination, some 7.3 km away from the location of the to-be-built Kunlun Station, China's first inland Antarctic research station and also the country's third station in Antarctica after Changcheng Station and Zhongshan Station.

All the materials allocated for the construction of Kunlun and eight snowmobiles arrived at the camp in the Dome A zone, the pole's highest icecap at 4,093 meters above the sea level.

The advance of the expedition had been hampered as the traction force of its vehicles slowed significantly in Antarctica's mild zone, Li Yuansheng, leader of the team, told Xinhua through Iridium satellite phone.

However, the team managed to lighten its load and make traveling easier by leaving some sleds behind for picking up later, he said.

All the vehicles worked well, and all the 28 inland team members were in good physical condition.

Chinese researchers made their first Dome A trip in January 2005. In January 2008, the 24th Antarctic expedition team went there for the second time to prepare for the construction of Kunlun.

Six countries including the United States and Russia have built stations in the Dome A zone so far.