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Overcoming
challenging ice conditions, a ship has safely delivered
cargo needed to supply National Science Foundation research
stations in Antarctica through the coming austral winter
and into the next research season.
Fuel required to heat the stations and power aircraft
and other vehicles is currently being transferred from
a tanker into storage tanks on land.
The cargo vessel American Tern arrived at McMurdo Station's
ice pier on Feb. 2. With its cargo safely offloaded, and
with recyclable materials and other goods stowed aboard,
the Tern was escorted out of McMurdo Sound by the Russian
icebreaker Krasin earlier this week. The cargo ship has
steamed safely beyond the ice-clogged region and is now
headed north.
NSF chartered the Krasin to cut and maintain a channel
through the thick, multiyear ice covering the Ross Sea
and the sound into McMurdo Station.
Meanwhile, the tanker Lawrence H. Gianella is offloading
fuel and is expected to complete its operations by Feb.
11, when it too will be escorted north through the sea
ice.
With the safe arrival and off-load of the ships, preparations
for the long, dark Antarctic winter at McMurdo are nearing
completion.
NSF, which manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, maintains
two year-round posts on the Antarctic continent: Amundsen-Scott
South Pole Station and McMurdo Station. Palmer Station,
located on the Antarctic Peninsula, does not rely on the
supplies delivered to McMurdo.
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National
Science Foundation -
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