Zhang Hong (second from right) and her male colleagues leap in unison for a picture near the Arctic Yellow River Station in Ny-Alesund. Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Hong

The Arctic Pole has been visited by many scientists over the years, but Zhang Hong, a 27-year-old PhD student at the School of Electronic Information, Wuhan University,  recently became China's first woman to complete scientific research during an Arctic winter.

Zhang's journey to the northern station took three days, with flights that took her from Beijing to Stockholm, to Oslo, to Tromso, to Longyearbyen, and finally to her destination at the Yellow River Station.

The Arctic Yellow River Station was established by the Polar Research Institute of China in Ny-Alesund, on Svalbard, in 2003. Chinese scientists go there to conduct research on the aurora borealis and microbes in the ice, glacier monitoring and atmospheric testing.

Zhang arrived at the Yellow River Station on October 13, 2011, and after 140 days of work and research, she returned home on March 1.

Well prepared

Half a year before going to the Arctic, Ai Yong, Zhang's adviser, asked her to consider traveling to the station to conduct research. As the only woman among the program's PhD students, Zhang accepted the invitation and was determined to fulfill the duties of the task.

Zhang told the Global Times that she had already had experience with scientific expeditions in other regions such as Hebei Province and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Zhang's goal was to record the behavior of atoms and molecules in different atmospheres to better understand phenomena relating to wind and dynamic process mechanisms in the atmosphere.

"The research was rather complicated and required measurements on many other parameters. The wind was just one of them," Zhang added.

Adapting to the polar life

Zhang told the Global Times that the recent Arctic winter was unusually warm, with temperatures on some days hovering a few degrees above freezing and lows reaching -20 C. 

The Yellow River Station is adjacent to the research stations of Norway, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan and South Korea. Each has its own two-story building. Zhang's Arctic home accommodated one person in a room with central heat, and a public toilet was nearby. There were several other Chinese from the Polar Research Institute of China in Shanghai doing long-term research.

People from various nations ate together in a canteen with food supplied by a local company. The staple food was generally meat and potatoes. Zhang said she didn't like the meat there because it was seasoned with nothing but salt. The kitchen had almost no Chinese condiments.

Living in darkness

While the dark polar nights were ideal for collecting data, Zhang had to figure out how to kill time during the long hours without sunlight. In the dead of winter, periods of 24-hour darkness stretched on without a gleam of sunlight. To keep busy, Zhang entertained herself with all kinds of activities.

There was a small gym that had hockey and billiards near the international science community "neighborhood" in Ny-Alesund. Zhang, who'd always concentrated on schoolwork, had almost never touched these things before. But up in the Arctic, she became a regular at the gym and became an expert in some games.

There were also several get-togethers hosted by her fellow scientists from different nations. The researchers would gather together and break the boundaries of culture, eat, drink and chat together on a regular basis.

Celebrating Spring Festival

A few days before Chinese New Year's Eve, Zhang and several Chinese colleagues made dumplings together to prepare for Spring Festival.

On the morning of the traditional Chinese New Year's Eve, she and her colleagues from Shanghai entered the canteen to find a celebratory banner hanging and a small Chinese flag. The group was touched that their fellows had gone to the trouble to make such a sweet gesture.

Zhang gladly distributed dumplings among her colleagues. "Henhaochi! [Very delicious!]" the foreign researchers praised with unskilled Putonghua.

Though she was happy to have such a festive atmosphere on this special holiday, Zhang still felt a little homesick. At 4 pm her time, which made it 11 pm in Beijing, Zhang dialed her parents' number. They talked for half an hour.

The 140 days in the Arctic left Zhang with many wonderful memories. After returning to China, Zhang stayed a few days with family and friends and then returned to school to begin summarizing her research findings.

When it comes to future plans, Zhang told the Global Times that she will not return to the North Pole because scientists are now working on a way to remotely observe conditions there without a person living at the station.

Global Times