The annual resupply of McMurdo Station, the U.S.’ largest Antarctic research station is set to wrap up in the coming days.
The Coast Guard’s sole heavy icebreaker, the nearly 50-year old Polar Star, assisted the second of two MSC chartered cargo ships to the station. Ocean Gladiator arrived dock side on February 20 beginning the offload of 321 pieces of containerized cargo consisting of equipment to sustain the station for the coming year, including mechanical parts, vehicles, construction materials, food, electronics equipment and personal and comfort items.
The delivery follows a similar offload by Ocean Giant, dropping off 380 containers. Both vessels are reloaded with thousands of tons of retrograde cargo including trash, recyclable materials, and obsolete equipment.
The vessels also carry back science equipment and samples. In the case of Ocean Gladiator , it will return with ice core samples collected during the summer science season. The cores will be kept in the vessel’s sub-zero freezer during their return for scientific study in the U.S.
The U.S. Coast Guard has supported Operation Deep Freeze, as the annual joint military resupply mission in support of the National Science Foundation is commonly known, for 28 years.
The Polar Star remains a key USCG asset to breaking open a shipping channel and keeping the lanes ice-free for resupply vessels. The channel through the ice can exceed 20 miles in length.
The deployment routinely lasts around 4 months. The heavy icebreaker has been undergoing service life extension programs during the northern hemisphere summer season enabling it to continue supporting Operation Deep Freeze.