Chinese 18th team for South Pole study set sail by "Xue Long" ship from Shanghai Pudong at 9:30 on November 16, inaugurating China's polar region study in the 21st century.

The team is formed of a crew of 143 members, including 7 scientists from the US, Japan, Germany and Taiwan Province. As has been set on a planned "two destinations" route, the team will stop at the Great Wall Station via New Zealand, and then send some team members and goods and materials to Zhongshan Station.

The South Pole study is going to be conducted to cover six special research projects including South Pole ecology, geology, atmospheric physics and sea level monitoring, through-summer and through-winter study in the Great Wall and Zhongshan Stations and a study of the Southern Ocean and the South Pole inland. Moreover, some international cooperative projects will be launched such as GPS international monitoring, jointly establishing automatic meteorological station with Australia, observing sea birds with Germany in the Great Wall Station, monitoring physics laser with Japan in Zhongshan Station.

In addition, this time the team is supposed to accomplish the following tasks: providing the Great Wall and Zhangshan Stations with fuel, establishing a power house at the Great Wall Station, upgrading power systems and first-phase construction of life facilities as a major part of Zhongshan Station.