Us antarctic program ice breaker

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. Each year the United States deploys to Antarctica about people to perform scientific research and about 2, people to operate and maintain year-round research stations and provide logistics in support of this research.

These persons include research teams from academia, industry, and government, military personnel, and contractor employees. The National Science Foundation is the federal agency responsible for funding and managing U.

Most are selected by participating organizations and institutions as described below. Successful applicants will have been prepared through specialized study, training, or experience in polar-related topics. Opportunities fall into these categories:. Research can span across various disciplines including, but not limited to terrestrial and marine biology, meteorology, glaciology, earth sciences, ocean sciences, atmospheric sciences, and astronomy and astrophysics.

Additional research opportunities include utilizing existing Antarctic samples, data and models, Polar education, and collaboration with cyberinfrastructure researchers. Eligibility is generally limited to U. Students at all levels are typically embedded within science teams. Read more: We got aboard a Coast Guard chopper to see how they bust smugglers and save boaters in the crowded waters around Miami.

The Polar Star spends the winter months breaking ice around Antarctica and then enters dry dock for maintenance and repairs in preparation for the next iteration of Deep Freeze. The US's only other icebreaker is the medium icebreaker Healy, which returned it homeport in Seattle on November 30 after spending days in the Arctic supporting research operations. The Coast Guard has been working for sometime to start construction on new icebreakers, setting up a joint office with the Navy to oversee the effort.

The service has warned the US's paucity of icebreaking capability is a disadvantage, often contrasting the US's two icebreakers with Russia's more than 40 — though Russia has the world's longest Arctic coastline and many of its icebreakers are medium models or designated for use in the Baltic Sea. In December , former Coast Guard commandant and retired Adm. Paul Zukunft said he passed on an Arctic freedom-of-navigation exercise out of concern a breakdown on the Polar Star would require rescue by Russian ships.

For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. The ship's mission will be to help "protect the nation's maritime sovereignty and security in the region," the release states. Linda Fagan, U. Coast Guard Pacific Area commander. It will be the first deployment of a U.

Polar-class icebreaker to the Arctic on a non-science mission since August , when the heavy icebreaker Polar Sea, now inactive, became one of the first two American surface ships to reach the North Pole. In , Polar Star spent three months in the region on a science mission. And in , the Polar Sea conducted a three-month Arctic deployment, also dedicated solely to science. This unusual wintertime deployment, however, will focus primarily on national security and projecting maritime sovereignty.

With the largest Arctic nation, Russia, expanding its influence in the region and China seeking to exert its own presence and economic efforts in the Arctic, the U. But displaying presence has proved challenging for the Coast Guard in the past several years, with the service's tiny fleet of icebreakers suffering losses and new ships still a few years away.