Delivery of Fuel and Construction Materials to South Pole Station
Abstract
Plans are underway to rebuild South Pole Station, ideally with minimal impact on the current science and operational, program. The new station will require the delivery of massive amounts of construction materials to this remote site. The existing means of delivering material and fuel to the South Pole include the use of specialized and rare LC- 1 30 Hercules aircraft that can operate on wheels or skis, and some materials are also air-dropped from C-141 aircraft. Neither of these delivery systems is expected to be capable, within a reasonable time period, of supporting both current operations and the transport needs for construction of a new station. Several options for moving construction materials and fuel to South Pole Station are analyzed. All of our options assume that goods will be transported to the Antarctic continent by ship. The options include a) construction of a snow runway at the South Pole capable of supporting wheeled aircraft, b) development of an inland blue-ice runway capable of supporting heavy wheeled aircraft, located as close as possible to the South Pole, with oversnow vehicle haulage from the runway to the Pole (two potential sites are considered), c) over-snow vehicle haulage from McMurdo across the Ross Ice Shelf, up the Skelton or another glacier, and over the polar plateau to the Pole, and d) vehicle haulage from some coastal station (located at about 670S latitude) with an easier access route onto the polar plateau.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA270431
Entities
People
- George L. Blaisdell
- Stephen L. Denhartog
Organizations
- Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory