Chinese icebreaker embarks on the second expedition to the Arctic

China's newest icebreaker Xuelong-2 left Shanghai on Monday on its second expedition to the North Pole, which will be China's 12th in a row.

The expedition will last until the second half of September. During this time, the vessel will have to cover about 15 thousand nautical miles and perform a number of research tasks. We are talking about work and research related to climate change, environmental protection in the Arctic and the collection of samples in this region.

The previous expedition of the Xuelong-2 icebreaker to the North Pole, which lasted 75 days, ended in September 2020. Then, for the first time, Chinese specialists managed to collect samples of sedimentary rocks under the ice at a depth of 18.65 meters in the Arctic Ocean.

Launched in September 2018, the vessel with a displacement of over 13.9 thousand tons has a length of 122.5 meters, a width of 22.3 meters, and a maximum draft of 7.85 meters. The icebreaker is capable of carrying up to 4.5 thousand tons of cargo on board, and the maximum speed of movement, according to technical specifications, is about 15 knots.