China's Ministry of Natural Resources announced on the 7th that the 42nd Chinese Antarctic Expedition Team has successfully completed China's first Antarctic hot-water ice drilling trial, reaching a drilling depth of 3,413 meters and breaking the international polar hot-water drilling depth record of 2,540 meters. This marks that China now possesses the capability to conduct drilling research across more than 90% of the Antarctic ice sheet and the entire Arctic ice sheet.
Polar ice sheet hot-water drilling research is an international frontier in studying Earth's ancient environmental changes and predicting climate changes. Compared to traditional mechanical ice drills, hot-water drilling offers stronger penetration capabilities, higher drilling efficiency, less disturbance to the ice body, and is easier to achieve large diameters and clean operations. This allows for efficient access to subglacial lakes, the bottom of ice shelves, and sub-ice bedrock, making it the mainstream technology internationally for deep environmental studies of polar ice sheets and ice shelves.
The main goal of this field trial was to conduct a demonstration application of the deep ice sheet hot-water drilling system in Antarctica. By drilling through the ice sheet above the Qilin Subglacial Lake, the trial aimed to provide a pollution-free channel and critical technical support for subsequent in situ observation of the subglacial lake, as well as water and lakebed sample collection.
This trial, targeting an ice sheet over 3,000 meters thick, integrated multiple types of equipment adapted for polar environments to meet high-precision, rapid, and clean drilling requirements. The team has overcome key technical challenges such as low-temperature resistance for hot-water drilling, control of external pollutants, and high-precision control of deep hoses and winches.