China's 26th Antarctic expedition team reached the peak of the continent's inland ice cap, the 4,093-meter-high Dome A, on Wednesday after a 20-day journey.

It was the second time that Chinese explorers have climbed to the top of the ice-covered continent since the opening of China's Kunlun Station in January last year.

The Chinese scientists will install astral observation equipment at Dome A, which they consider the best observatory site in the world. The effort is part of preparation work for the building of a network of three Schimidt telescopes in 2011 at the South Pole.

Twenty members of the expedition team, which set out from China's Zhongshan Station in eastern Antarctica on December 18, were expected to continue their journey to reach the Kunlun Station, some 7 km southeast of Dome A.

The team was to conduct research in multiple sciences, including glaciology, astronomy, mapology and geophysics at the Kunlun Station.

The team also was to determine a drilling position in a 3-km long section of glacier ice to prepare for the retrieval of an ice core that dates back one million years. The ice core will help the researchers trace major transitions of the Earth.

The Kunlun station in the Dome A area was China's first research station on Antarctica's inland, marking a significant step in polar exploration.

The 26th expedition team began its journey October 11 from Shanghai. A total of 251 scientists, workers and crew members joined the team for the half-year-long research expedition. The scientists will stay on the icy continent until April 10.

(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2010)