Ice breaker, penguins, and a seal

We now have contact with the outside world other than just by plane. The first ship of the season has made it in to port. It is a Sweedish icebreaker, The Oden. It broke the channel out of the ice, so that other vessels can make it into the station. It took quite awhile for the icebreaker to make it through the ice. It had to break its way through the ice for about 30 miles. The icebreaker uses weight to break the ice and not momentum or force. It rides itself up onto the ice, and then it pumps water up to the front of the boat, and the weight pushes down on the ice until it gives way. The boat then backs up a ways, runs up on the ice again, and repeats this over and over and over again. The ice that it broke through is seasonal ice. The seasonal ice doesn't melt away like ice on a lake does. Rather, what happens, is the ice will break apart and will flow out into the open water of the ocean where it will then melt. Depending on the season more or less ice will break out. The last few years the ice has not been breaking out very well, and this is due to very large icebergs clogging up the channel. The Oden has arrived in port and is back out in the ice trying to get the channels as clear as possible before the other ships arrive. There are three more ships yet to arrive. One is the Nathanael B. Palmer a research vessel, a container resupply ship, and a fuel tanker. All of them will come into port over the next two weeks, but one at a time.





Breaking through the ice


The Oden coming in to port...a seal in the bottom right corner.


Some penguins came over to say hi, while we watched the Oden at work.


A seal. You can see his track in the snow going between the two different holes.