3,413 meters: China sets new record in global hot water ice drilling

BEIJING, 7 April (BelTA - China Daily) - China has achieved a remarkable depth of over 3,400 meters in its first hot water ice drilling experiment in Antarctica, breaking the previous international record of 2,540 meters, the Ministry of Natural Resources said on Tuesday.

On February 5, China's 42nd Antarctic expedition team successfully completed the country's first hot water ice drilling test in the Qilin Subglacial Lake region, reaching a depth of 3,413 meters.

The achievement marks the country's capability to conduct drilling research across over 90 percent of the Antarctic ice sheet and all Arctic ice sheet.

Named by China in 2022, the Qilin Subglacial Lake is one of the largest buried lakes discovered in Antarctica, located in the Princess Elizabeth Land in the East Antarctic inland ice sheet, about 120 kilometers from China's Taishan station.

Hot water drilling research is an international frontier scientific study aimed at understanding Earth's ancient environmental changes, predicting climate change, exploring the boundaries of life and expanding human knowledge.

It has significant advantages over traditional mechanical ice drilling as it can penetrate ice faster with minimal disturbance, allow large-diameter clean operations, and efficiently reach critical interfaces such as subglacial lakes, ice shelf bases and subglacial bedrock. Hot water drilling has become the mainstream technology for international research on the deep environments of polar ice sheets.

The experiment was mainly to demonstrate the application of a deep ice sheet hot water drilling system in Antarctica. By drilling through the ice cover above the Qilin Subglacial Lake, the experiment aimed to provide a contamination-free pathway and key technical support for subsequent in-situ observations of subglacial lakes and the collection of water and lakebed samples.

The experiment targeted ice sheets over 3,000 meters thick. It integrated multiple pieces of equipment designed for polar conditions and addressed key technical challenges, including low-temperature operation, external contamination control, and precise management of deep hoses and winches.

The successful drilling demonstrates efficient, stable and environmentally clean operation, filling a gap in China's polar research capabilities and reflecting its concepts of "green exploration" and environmentally responsible technologies.