Xuelong sets sail to study Arctic thaw

The Chinese icebreaker Xuelong will set out for northern seas on Monday on a quest to discover how rapid changes in sea ice in the Arctic will affect China's climate.

Multiple disciplines - including oceanography, meteorology, marine biology and ecology, and sea-ice dynamics and thermodynamics - will be employed in the study.

Sea ice in the Arctic region is diminishing by about 13 percent every decade, altering ocean currents and the environment, according to multiple studies.