"Professor Zhou reported an important matter this morning, you must already know about it, right?" Shen Tonghui said to Zheng Dashen.

"You're talking about the polar heat-up, right? I've got it. ”

"The Council has asked us to do a careful investigation to assess the impact of this warming. So ......"

"Antarctic expedition?" Zheng Dashen said excitedly.

"Yes." Shen Tonghui replied, turned his head and said to Zhou Ran, "Professor Zhou, you continue with the topic just now. ”

Zheng Dashen's words of self-recommendation came to his lips, and when he heard the dean say this, he hurriedly put it away, thinking that they had already discussed it, and suddenly felt a sense of loss.

If you want to talk about ability, you are no worse than Zhou Ran, and your strength to dare to break through is even more than him, the only thing that is not comparable is experience. However, Dean Shen seemed to value Zhou Ran more, which made him very depressed.

"Since the council has asked for the organization of a scientific expedition, which shows that it attaches great importance to this matter, I think we must organize the backbone of the ecological institute to conduct this expedition." Zhou Ran said, glancing at Zheng Dashen out of politeness, "As for me, I'm a little old, not as strong as a young man, and not a backbone." But I had a similar experience, so I applied to join this expedition. ”

Shen Tonghui nodded and said with a smile: "Old Zhou, you are humble. If even you are not the backbone, then our ecological institute will have to close its doors, hehe. ”

"Yes, Professor Zhou is too modest."

Zheng Dashen echoed, and he couldn't tell whether it was sincere or hypocritical flattery.

Zhou Ran was noncommittal, just waved his hand and smiled.

"Professor Zheng, I would like to hear your opinion as well."

"I agree with Professor Zhou's opinion just now, since the council attaches so much importance to it, we must do this well." Zheng Dashen said solemnly, "Of course, this matter itself is also our responsibility, and the research results will have great guiding significance for future ecological development." So, Dean, I also applied to join this expedition. ”

"As I expected." Zhou Ran thought.

For such a result, Shen Tonghui knew very well, he knew very well that the two belonged to different factions, and he would definitely go all out to fight for this opportunity. For the struggle between the two factions, he has always turned a blind eye, after all, both of them are rare talents, and the loss of either is the loss of the Ecological Institute.

However, fortunately, the two are generally at peace with each other and will not bring their personal political views to work.

In fact, when the council decided to organize a scientific expedition team, Shen Tonghui already had a suitable candidate in his heart. Zhou Ran is experienced and considers things more comprehensively, but the disadvantage is that he is too conservative, and can even be said to be pedantic, and sometimes he always gives people a feeling of lack of vitality.

Zheng Dashen is just the opposite, although he is a bit big-hearted, he is young and promising, energetic, and has strong scientific research ability. Therefore, the two of them just complement each other and restrain each other, and there will be absolutely no problems.

After listening to Shen Tonghui's opinion, the two fell into a short silence.

"Given the magnitude of the mission, caution is needed. Therefore, Shen Tonghui paused for a moment and looked at the two of them, "Zhou Ran is the leader of the scientific expedition team, and Zheng Dashen is the deputy leader of the team, I hope that the two of you can cooperate wholeheartedly to successfully complete this task." ”

Zhou Ran was really surprised, he really wanted to participate in this scientific expedition, but he never thought of being the team leader.

Although I have similar experience, it is the first time to go to Antarctica, and I am inevitably a little unconfident. When he heard that Zheng Dashen was the deputy leader, his first feeling was not opposition, but a sense of steadiness. This shows that he still hopes that Zheng Dashen can participate in this scientific expedition.

"Dean, I'm afraid I'm not up to the ......"

Zhou Ran said uneasily that this was the first time he showed his weakness in front of Zheng Dashen.

"I believe in your strength." Shen Tonghui said with a smile that Zhou Ran noticed that he was talking about "you" instead of "you", which showed that he wanted the two of them to cooperate.

"Dean, don't worry, I will fully cooperate with Professor Zhou's work!" Zheng Dashen stood up suddenly, and solemnly stretched out his right hand, "Professor Zhou, although we have different political views, in the face of major rights and wrongs, I, Zheng Dashen, still have principles. Rest assured, I will fully support you and believe that we will be able to complete the task! ”

"Yes, at this time, we should work together regardless of previous suspicions." Zhou Ran thought.

"Good!" Zhou Ran also stood up, stretched out his right hand and shook it heavily, "To be honest, with you, I will be sure." ”

The three of them laughed knowingly, this was a rare scene, and Shen Tonghui's idea seemed to have come true.

Once upon a time, the Antarctic continent was the last "pure land" on Earth, and because the Antarctic continent is basically located in the southern arctic region south of 66.5° south latitude, the climate is extremely cold. In addition, it is far away from other continents inhabited by humans, so it was not discovered by explorers from all over the world until more than 300 years ago.

However, it is human nature to compete for power.

Soon after the discovery of the Antarctic continent, countries began to fight for its sovereignty. In the end, humanity decided to establish Antarctica as the common heritage of mankind and signed a treaty, the Antarctic Treaty, which established that Antarctica should be used only for peaceful purposes.

In the years since the discovery of the Antarctic continent, according to incomplete statistics, its total area is about 14 million square kilometers, of which 95% is covered by thick ice sheets. The average thickness of the Antarctic ice sheet is about 2,000 meters, and due to the thick ice cover, the Antarctic continent is the highest average altitude in the world, with an average altitude of 2,350 meters.

The climate of the Antarctic continent is a polar climate, characterized by "extreme cold, drought and strong winds", and is known as the "white desert", which shows that its natural environment is extremely harsh. However, the Antarctic continent is an ideal area for scientific investigation, because it has no permanent population, so it is rarely affected by human activities, and has advantageous conditions in scientific research in astronomy, meteorology and other disciplines.

However, since the rapid development of human society, problems have arisen in resources, energy, ecology and other aspects, and the natural appearance of the South and Arctic has also undergone great changes, one of which is global warming. This has led to anomalous polar temperatures, mainly in the form of rising temperatures, which have led to melting glaciers and drastically reducing the thickness of snow and ice.

This Antarctic expedition is the 19th Antarctic expedition since the establishment of the coalition government. The expedition team is composed of 150 people, including Professor Zhou Ran and Professor Zheng Dashen, the deputy leader. Except for the 28 team members, the rest are emergency personnel and medical personnel.

They will travel from Ushuaia, Argentina, just 900 kilometers from Antarctica, on the Icebreaker 2 polar research icebreaker, and from here it will take only two days to cross the Drake Strait to Antarctica.

The Antarctic scientific expedition will focus on major issues such as responding to global climate change, carry out scientific surveys of hydrometeorology and ecological environment, and carry out operational monitoring tasks of new pollutants such as sea, land and air drifting garbage in the Southern Ocean.

In addition, the "Icebreaker 2" will go to the Antarctic continent and will also carry out material supply work to the Kunlun Station and other stations in Antarctica, and the entire expedition will last three months.