Us antarctic program icebreaker

Portions of the bedrock are below sea level. Credit: National Geographic Society. The map locates the three year-round stations—McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott South Pole, and Palmer—and shows the operating areas of research ships and the Coast Guard icebreaker.

Vostok, also shown, is a Russian station that collaborates with the United States and other nations in collecting a deep ice core. The copper pipe marks the exact spot of 90 degrees South latitude as determined each January using the satellite-based Global Positioning System, or GPS. In the mid-background are flags of the original 12 signatory nations to the Antarctic Treaty.

The gray building is the Elevated Station, which was dedicated in January The new station has replaced the former station located under the geodesic dome left. The flags of the 12 original Antarctic Treaty signatory nations near the ceremonial pole can be seen as a semi-circle at the right side of the photo. This station was named to commemorate the Norwegian and English explorers who were the first humans to reach the pole in December and January The research station has been in continuous operation since Its population during the winter isolation February-October is about 27, and the summer population can exceed Astronomy, astrophysics, atmospheric studies, glaciology, and seismology are performed here.

The station is supplied entirely by air from McMurdo. The smallest and northernmost of America's three year-round research stations in Antarctica. The summer population is 43; winter, about Marine biology is the major scientific pursuit, and the area is a designated National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research site. The station is supplied by ship from South America.

The segmented, tan building 46, square feet at center is the Albert P. Beyond the lab are dormitories brown buildings and the research ship Nathaniel B. Palmer in tiny Winter Quarters Bay. Most cargo and all fuel come to McMurdo by one cargo ship and one tanker per year. A typical dormitory room at McMurdo. Each room normally houses two people and shares a bath with another room. About 70 percent is recycled. Sorting of waste at the source is a responsibility of all. Here are recycle containers in front of McMurdo Station dormitories.

South Pole and all camps send all their trash to McMurdo for removal from Antarctica. Modern research requires modern communications. Antarctic stations and ships have Internet thanks to installations such as this one on Black Island, near McMurdo.

Windmills provide much of the power required. Camps placed by airplane or helicopter enable researchers to get where they need to go for the amount of time they need to complete their work. These tents are similar to Robert F. Scott's, although more modern designs also are used.

Before leaving McMurdo to work at remote sites, scientists and support personnel are trained in survival techniques, including building shelters using snow. In August, several flights from New Zealand raise McMurdo's population from its winter minimum with early science and support staff to prepare for summer.

In October the population rises quickly, and over the summer people arrive and depart several times a week. In late February, when reduced daylight and plummeting temperatures make field research impractical, the population drops to the winter minimum. Populations here are for the three years June through May The runway is usable until early December, when the sea ice deteriorates from summer warmth.

A contractor Petroleum Helicopters Inc. The four-engine, ski-equipped air transport is the backbone of the US Antarctic Program and makes it possible for scientists to work at nearly any location in Antarctica.

The airplane can land on wheels or on skis. For a recent list of Antarctic science researchers and field projects, see the Science Planning Summaries section. Provides a wide range of logistical and science support operations and is curator of the USAP web portal.

Provides logistics and support for the U. Antarctic Program; oversees the activities of U. Breaks a channel in the sea ice in McMurdo Sound before the arrival of the annual fuel and resupply ships; escorts resupply ships in and out of McMurdo Station; delivers fuel to Marble Point, northern Victoria Land; and provides science support as needed.

Provides weather forecasting, air traffic control, base operations, systems maintenance, systems engineering, and information security services. Antarctic Program investigators, and maintains a satellite facility with a full range of geodetic GPS equipment and support services at McMurdo Station during the austral summer research season.

Provides ice-coring and drilling support for NSF-sponsored research in both polar regions and at high altitudes, maintains and operates existing equipment, and develops new systems. Suscribe x. A group of US scientists who were stranded in an ice-bound island off the northeastern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula were rescued on Sunday by an Argentine icebreaker, US and Argentine authorities announced Monday.

The four scientists and a support staff member, who were conducting research at Joinville Island, were airlifted by helicopter to the Almirante Irizar icebreaker. Gould was unable to carry out the evacuation because the ice barrier was too dense on the Weddell Sea in front of the island that is south of the Argentine mainland.

Simms, an associate professor of earth sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Yes, EM and when ordinary folk can sleep soundly in their beds safe in the knowledge that a group of noxious armed thugs arent going to arrive in the middle of the night to steal their homes and land, wont that be nice?

Trust it won't eventually do the roll over trick or disappear without trace like other Argie craft?