Winter Quarters Bay

McMurdo Station provides logistical support for operations across the continent. The food, fuel, and humans at the South Pole arrive via LC-130 cargo planes and traverse tractors from McMurdo. Numerous small field camps are staged from McMurdo and reached via helicopter, LC-130, or ski-equipped Twin Otters. The Italian and New Zealand Antarctic programs also depend on fuel and military transport from McMurdo. All this in addition to supporting a year-round population of 200, and as many as 1000 inhabitants in the peak summer.

This requires a lot of fuel and supplies. Although summertime cargo planes bring down scientific equipment and fresh vegetables, much of the resupply is accomplished during the annual visit of a fuel tanker and a container ship. Winter Quarters Bay is a well-protected deep water harbor that attracted Robert Falcon Scott to the site in 1901, and which played an important later role in establishing McMurdo Station on this site. With the heavy American Navy icebreakers undergoing major overhaul or permanently decommissioned, the National Science Foundation contracted with a Russian icebreaker to open a passage to Winter Quarters Bay.

In the last two weeks, the Vladimir Ignatyuk has cleared the shore-fast sea ice and created a large open basin in front of town. We went down to watch the Ignatyuk break out the bay. It was very impressive to watch as an acre of ice released from the shoreline and moved with the ship. It was also mildly vertigo-inducing, as we were on a hillside quite close to the water and much of our field of view began to shift as one.

There was a lot of interesting gear to check out on the icebreaker, and it was great to listen in on the radio communications. There was also a lot of puzzling text... Kelly, can we get some help with the Cyrillic?!

[ADDENDUM: Kelly reports that the big text on the side of the Vladimir Ignatyuk reads: 'Vladimir Ignatyuk'.]

A few days later, the fuel tanker waiting in open water off the ice edge made its transit through the broken channel into Winter Quarters Bay. After about 6 hours of negotiations over the radio concerning the 'mooring and ropes plan', the Maersk Peary shot some fine line across the water, and a sequence of heavier ropes was pulled ashore and fixed to bollards. The tanker remained on station off for about four days as fuel was pumped into the massive tanks at the outskirts of town. The captain attended Lars' science talk and even brought up a question about ozone.

The open water has attracted quite a few Minke whales. With a pair of binoculars and some patience, one can often see these smallest of the baleen whales blowing at the surface. Even better for whale spotting is the excellent vantage provided during our helicopter flights.