Living and working in the cold - Antarctica: Global Science from a Frozen Continent - page 239

Figure 8.12 RNZAF Boeing 757 on the

Pegasus white ice runway at Williams
Field. (Credit: AntarcticaNewZealand)

Russian Novolazarevskaya Station and serve scientists and personnel from Belgium,
Finland, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, South Africa,
Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Ships are used by many programmes including the British Antarctic Survey,
which runs two ice-strengthened research ships and also uses a navy ship for survey
work and helicopter support. Most of the South American countries use navy ships
for support. The most active Antarctic countries such as Australia, South Africa,
France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Spain, the United States and China also have
dedicated Antarctic research ships, some of them capable of ice breaking. Until 2007,
Australia had a purely ship-based programme with 30-day long trips setting sail
from Hobart. The Australian Antarctic Division has recently contracted with a
commercial airline to transport scientists and support crew on an Airbus 319
that flies from Hobart. The three Scandinavian countries - Norway, Sweden and

Finland have always closely cooperated, sharing the logistics costs of ships, and

more recently the tourist cruise ships have also assisted several countries by
delivering staff and resources to several stations during their summer visits.
Land travel is often by snowmobile or special polar tractors like Hagglunds and
Pisten Bullies. Marker poles indicate safe travelling routes, but when crossing
infrequently travelled areas, parties must stop regularly and drill through the ice
to measure its thickness. Deep and deadly crevasses can be covered by a thin layer
of snow or ice which suddenly gives way. This sort of travel is only possible with
highly skilled

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field guides.
If travelling around Antarctica required battling only extreme cold and wind, it
would be challenging enough to keep vehicles running; but add to its extreme
weather the mountainous terrain, crevasses and melting sea ice and you have an
environment that makes transport nearly impossible. Keeping equipment running in
such an environment is tough. Not only is metal prone to cracking and breaking