A Force of Nature, a Marvel of Logistics

National Science Foundation
Office of Polar Programs
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230

Posted February 15, 2019

Paul Cziko, a researcher at the University of Oregon and the principal investigator for the McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory at NSF’s McMurdo Station, Antarctica, earlier this month recorded this roughly two-minute, time-lapse video of two-meter-thick sea ice breaking up in front of the station, which is part of the annual freeze-and-thaw cycle.

The filming occurred as the annual supply ship, Ocean Giant -- chartered by the Military Sealift Command -- was being unloaded at the station’s ice pier. The ship delivered 498 shipping containers and other cargo, a total of nearly 7 million pounds of supplies. It then loaded 450 containers of waste and recycling as well as scientific samples for the return trip to Port Hueneme, Calif.

Prior to the break out, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star opens a channel to to allow the Ocean Giant access to the station and escorts the ship in and out of the still-hazardous ice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBHYw17b55A