Recently, the official website of the Multinational Joint Arctic Research Examination MOSAiC Project released the latest photos. The MOSAiC project is the flagship project of the International Arctic Science Committee, initiated by the Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. According to the plan, the German "Polestar" icebreaker, as the main platform for scientific research, was frozen in Eastern Siberia/Northern Laptev Sea from September 2019, drifting with the polar current until September 2020, completing a one-year manned Observation at the watched ice station aims to deepen the understanding of the coupling process between the atmosphere, sea ice, ocean, and ecosystem in the central Arctic sea and the geochemical cycle process.
himself knew little about the relevant scientific content, but found that armed guards with guns accompanied the scientific expedition team when they were on the ice for observation. Armed guards not only have rifles, they are also equipped with night vision devices for better observation conditions. At the same time, it is equipped with a radio station to keep the communication open at any time.
This is an armed guard taken earlier. If you don’t look at the red winter clothes, from the perspective of helmets, goggles, noise reduction headphones, and full suits, it is no different from special police officers in other countries, except that they don’t carry a pistol. This armed guard uses a CR308 rifle, a gun light is installed on the handguard, and a red dot sight and a deflectable magnification mirror are installed in series on the top of the receiver to meet the needs of mid-range and short-range aiming.
CR308 is an AR rifle developed by Haenel Defence, Germany, with a caliber of 7.62×51mm. Henel is known for making excellent sniper rifles. The G29 currently in service in the German army is the company's RS9 sniper rifle military type. The
MOSAiC project is a drifting ice station project with the most complete disciplines and support capabilities so far, covering research fields such as atmospheric physics, atmospheric chemistry, sea ice, physical ocean, marine ecology and geochemistry. 17 countries including China, Germany, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Norway, Belgium and Canada participated. The picture shows the "Polestar" icebreaker from the sky. You can see the scientific research personnel on the ice.
With the warming of the Arctic climate in recent years, the area of sea ice has decreased, and winter storms and summer cyclones have increased and become stronger. As a core factor affecting global climate change, the Arctic has attracted widespread attention from the international scientific community. In 2015, the Helmholtz Center for Polar and Ocean Research in Germany led the launch of the "Multidisciplinary Drifting for Arctic Climate Research (MOSAiC)" program, whose main platform is the "Polestar" icebreaker. Use continuous monitoring for up to a year to improve the prediction accuracy of Arctic sea ice changes.
18 Chinese scientific expedition team members will participate in 5 of the 6 flight segments to perform on-site observation and sampling tasks of sea ice, ocean, atmosphere, ecology, biogeochemistry. China’s new polar expedition icebreaker "Xuelong 2" will form an international fleet with other icebreakers, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters to provide logistical support for the scientific expedition team.
Since it is now the polar night in the Arctic region, during the inspection process, the "Polestar" icebreaker was brightly lit to provide lighting for the expedition team members.
In spite of this, a little farther away was plunged into darkness.
A female team member is manipulating the low-light camera on the ship to take pictures of polar bears moving in the distance.
For the Arctic expedition team members, polar bears are the most deadly danger. Before going on the ice, they will receive rigorous training and conduct corresponding exercises to clarify what survival measures should be taken when encountering polar bears.
also looked at the polar bear through the camera, and the faces of the two guards were all nervous and uneasy. The reason why the CR308 rifle was chosen instead of the small-caliber rifle is because this rifle fires medium-caliber full-power ammunition, which can have enough lethality when it is attacked by a polar bear. A 20-round magazine is enough to let one down. In this regard, small-caliber rifles always feel unreliable. After all, the kinetic energy of 5.56×45mm ammunition is only half of 7.62×51mm.
expedition team members have to work on the ice for a long time, so the pressure on the armed guards is very high.
Even with armed guards, in the northWhen they are extremely bears, they will not hunt and kill them easily, but they will use the method of firing shots to deter and deter, to buy time for the transfer of scientific expedition team members. As the largest carnivore in the Arctic, polar bears are also very curious and often appear around icebreakers. The scientific expedition team can only make way for the king of the Arctic and wait for them to leave before working again.
