The picture shows that Yuan Shaohong, captain of the research vessel Xuelong (Snow-Dragon) that carried China's second scientific expedition to the North Pole, embraces his wife in Shanghai on Friday. After 74 days and 13,985 nautical miles, the team returned home with valuable research on the North Pole.

China's second Arctic expedition has successfully returned from the Arctic region and arrived in Shanghai Friday morning.

The successful return marks China's more advanced technology in arctic expedition, said Chen Lianzeng, deputy director of National Bureau of Oceanography at the welcome reception.

The team left Shanghai on July 10 aboard the scientific ship Xuelong, or Snow-Dragon, for the Arctic, where they sailed 13,985 nautical miles and conduct oceanic and meteorological research.

They have achieved progress in probing reactions of the Arctic region to global climatic changes and its impact in return on those changes, and analyzing Arctic influences on weather in the Chinese territory, said scientists.

The team set up China's northernmost observing station where they conducted a two-week research stretching 250 km. Xuelong made China's breakthrough by successfully navigating into the zone within 80 degrees northern latitude.

(China Daily September 27, 2003)