Our country's polar ice sheet drilling breaks the international record for the deepest hot water drilling.

On April 7, the reporter learned from the Ministry of Natural Resources that on February 5, 2026, the 42nd Chinese Antarctic expedition team organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources conducted a successful first heat-water drilling test in Antarctica’s ice layer in the area of the subglacial lake under the Qilin Ice in the southeastern Antarctic. The borehole reached a depth of 3,413 meters, breaking the international record of 2,540 meters for the deepest polar heat-water drilling, and indicating that China has the capability to carry out drilling research across more than 90% of the Antarctic ice sheet and the entirety of the Arctic ice sheet.

As introduced, polar ice-layer heat-water drilling research is an international frontier scientific endeavor aimed at studying changes in Earth’s ancient environment, predicting Earth’s climate change, exploring the boundaries of life, and expanding human understanding. Compared with traditional mechanical ice drilling, heat-water drilling has strong penetration capability, high drilling efficiency, minimal disturbance to the ice body, and is easy to implement for large-diameter and clean operations. It can efficiently reach key interfaces such as subglacial lakes, the bottoms of ice shelves, and subglacial bedrock. It is the mainstream technology used by the international community to study deep environments of polar ice sheets and ice shelves. This on-site test was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program led by the Ministry of Natural Resources. The main objectives were to carry out an Antarctic application demonstration of a deep ice-sheet heat-water drilling system, and, by drilling through the ice sheet above the Qilin subglacial lake, to provide an unpolluted passage and key technical support for subsequent in-situ observations of the subglacial lake and the collection of water and lake-bottom samples.

It is understood that, under the organization and support of the 42nd Chinese Antarctic expedition team, and under the planning and guidance of an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Sun Youhong, the task was jointly led by the Chinese Polar Research Center (Chinese Polar Research Institute), Jilin University, and China University of Geosciences (Beijing), and was completed together with multiple units. The on-site test involved tackling multiple stages, including sea-ice and inland logistics transportation, equipment assembly and commissioning, heat-water drilling operations, and process pollution monitoring, and it successfully drilled through the ice sheet overlying the Qilin subglacial lake.

The Ministry of Natural Resources stated that this test, targeting an ice sheet thicker than 3,000 meters, integrated the application of multiple pieces of equipment adapted to polar field conditions and meeting the needs for high-precision, rapid, and clean drilling. It also overcame key core technologies such as low-temperature resistance of polar heat-water drilling, control of external pollutants, and high-precision control of deep-depth soft hoses and winches. This successful drilling achieved efficient, stable, and clean drilling in deep polar heat-water drilling, filled China’s gap in this field, and was another typical practice in Antarctica of Chinese concepts such as “green expeditions” and “environmental protection technologies,” as well as Chinese manufacturing. It lays a solid foundation for further enabling large-scale applications of China’s polar heat-water drilling and sampling, conducting in-depth exploration of polar subglacial environments and Earth’s climate evolution, and actively opening and sharing relevant technologies and samples with other countries, helping the international community better understand, protect, and utilize the polar regions.