There were undoubtedly some racing pulses among Antarctic researchers this weekend with the announcement that the Swedish icebreaker Oden would not be available to break a shipping channel to McMurdo Station during the Austral summer. Without a shipping channel no resupply ship can reach the station, limiting resupply to what can be brought in by air. If a replacement icebreaker cannot be found McMurdo and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station will have to reduce operations to an absolute minimum to make fuel and other supplies last for another year.
We are keeping our fingers crossed for our project. Since we are coming in early in the season and don’t require a lot of resources we are hopeful that, even if a replacement is not found, our field season will still happen!
So why does the US Antarctic Program use a Swedish Icebreaker? Once upon a time the US had icebreakers capable of doing the job, but the US Coast Guard icebreaker fleet has fallen on tough times. Icebreakers don’t come cheap, one capable of breaking the thick ice of McMurdo Sound (or the high Arctic) has a price tag nearing 1 billion USD. The cold war fueled investment in two such vessels, the Polar Star and Polar Sea. After years of service neither vessel is fit for polar operations. The Polar Star is scheduled for a return to service after refit, the Polar Sea appears destined for decommission. That leaves the US with one heavy icebreaker, the Healy. Healy could do the job but is a dedicated research icebreaker tasked to the Arctic. Retasking it to save Antarctic science would mean a major disruption for Arctic science.
The United States is a major player in both polar regions. It is by far the wealthiest of only six countries that border the Arctic Ocean. With the privilege of an Arctic shoreline comes great responsibility. In order to fulfill our scientific obligations, conduct search and rescue operations in the face of increased Arctic Ocean traffic, and secure new northern shipping lanes a modern icebreaker fleet is needed!
