Expedient Sea Ice Infrastructure in a Cold Environment
Publication: Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 3
Abstract
McMurdo Station, Antarctica, serves as a major scientific and support operations hub for the US Antarctic Program (USAP). Winter Quarters Bay (WQB) is adjacent to the Station, where vessels dock at the southernmost port to unload cargo and fuel. The ice pier at McMurdo is vital to ensure this once-annual vessel resupply. The use of the ice pier requires the deployment of a Bailey bridge, which creates an operating bottleneck for resupply. The occasional breakup of the ice pier, during or immediately after vessel operations, demonstrates a potential point for failure. The feasibility of artificial freezing of seawater using thermopiles (TP; a passive cooling technology) to grow the existing WQB bottomfast ice edge to a point where ships could dock directly will be investigated in this study. The timing to freeze an ice dock depends on the air temperature, TP fin size, the distance between TPs, and the number of TP rows that are engaged simultaneously. The results indicated that to complete a bottomfast ice edge 40 m seaward and 100 m long that was parallel to the shore and adequate for ship docking and offload, it would take from 255 to 820 days. This study shows that TPs could successfully be used to generate a direct docking bottomfast ice wharf at McMurdo and similar locations.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was conducted for the NSF, Office of Polar Programs (OPP), under Engineering for Polar Operations, Logistics, and Research (EPOLAR) EP-ANT-19-08, “Toward lower risk McMurdo resupply.” The logistical guidance and technical supervision were provided by Margaret Knuth, Program Manager, NSF-OPP, USAP.
References
Barry, J. 1994. Ocean current observations near McMurdo Station, Antarctica from 1991 to 1993: relation to wastewater discharge dispersal. Idaho Falls, ID: EG and G/Monterey, CA: JP Consulting.
Barthelemy, J. L. 1976. Design and construction guide for a surface-flooded ice wharf - McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Port Hueneme, CA: Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory.
Barthelemy, J. 1992. “A near breakup of the surface-flooded ice wharf at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.” In Proc., 2nd Int. Offshore and Polar Engineering Conf. Mountain View, CA: International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE).
Crockett, A. B. 1997. “Water and wastewater quality monitoring, McMurdo Station, Antarctica.” Environ. Monit. Assess. 47 (1): 39–57. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005786218570.
Crockett, A. B., and G. J. White. 2003. “Mapping sediment contamination and toxicity in Winter Quarters Bay, McMurdo Station, Antarctica.” Environ. Monit. Assess. 85 (3): 257–275. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023985827565.
Davis, G. A. 2017. “A history of McMurdo Station through its architecture.” Polar Rec. 53 (2): 167–185. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247416000747.
Fichefet, T., and M. M. Maqueda. 1997. “Sensitivity of a global sea ice model to the treatment of ice thermodynamics and dynamics.” J. Geophys. Res. 102 (C6): 12609–12646. https://doi.org/10.1029/97JC00480.
Hunt, B. M., K. Hoefling, and C.-H. C. Cheng. 2003. “Annual warming episodes in seawater temperatures in McMurdo Sound in relationship to endogenous ice in notothenioid fish.” Antarct. Sci. 15 (3): 333–338. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102003001342.
ISO. 2010. Petroleum and natural gas industries–Arctic offshore structures. 19906:2010. Geneva: ISO.
Karelov, A., K. Shkhinek, and N. Belyaev. 2015. “Using of ice for constructing islands in the arctic conditions.” Appl. Mech. Mater. 725–726: 245–250. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.725-726.245.
Kirkpatrick, T. W. 1973. Ship operations, Deep Freeze 73. Antarctic Journal of the United States, NSF Office of Polar Programs.
Klein, A. G., M. C. Kennicutt, G. A. Wolff, S. T. Sweet, T. Bloxom, D. A. Gielstra, and M. Cleckley. 2008. “The historical development of McMurdo Station, Antarctica, an environmental perspective.” Polar Geogr. 31 (3–4): 119–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/10889370802579856.
Knuth, M. A., A. M. Wagner, D. S. Sodhi, G. Blaisdell, and C. Shelton. 2013. “Ship offload infrastructure in McMurdo Station, Antarctica.” In Int. Symp. on Cold Regions Development 2013: Planning for Sustainable Cold Regions, edited by J. E. Zufelt, 540–551. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Leventer, A., R. Dunbar, M. Allen, and R. Wayper. 1987. “Ice thickness in McMurdo Sound.” Antarct. J. USA 22 (5): 94–96.
Maykut, G. A., and N. Untersteiner. 1971. “Some results from a time-dependent thermodynamic model of sea ice.” J. Geophys. Res. 76 (6): 1550–1575. https://doi.org/10.1029/JC076i006p01550.
McFeters, G. A., J. P. Barry, and J. P. Howington. 1993. “Distribution of enteric bacteria in Antarctic seawater surrounding a sewage outfall.” Water Res. 27 (4): 645–650. https://doi.org/10.1016/0043-1354(93)90174-G.
NSF (National Science Foundation). 2017. Wharf study at McMurdo Station. Leidos, Antarctica. Antarctic Support Contract Rep. Alexandria, VA: NSF.
Paige, R. A. 1966. Crystallographic studies of sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Port Hueneme, CA: Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory.
Paige, R. A., and C. W. Lee. 1967. “Preliminary studies on sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, during “Deep Freeze 65”.” J. Glaciol. 6 (46): 515–528. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022143000019730.
Pringle, D., H. Eicken, H. Trodahl, and L. Backstrom. 2007. “Thermal conductivity of landfast Antarctic and Arctic sea ice.” J. Geophys. Res. 112: C04017.
Raytheon. 1983. Report on the McMurdo Station Water Quality Study. Paramus, NJ: Raytheon.
Schwerdtfecer, P. 1963. “The thermal properties of sea ice.” J. Glaciol. 4 (36): 789–807. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022143000028379.
SoilVision System. 1997. Accessed February 1, 2019. https://soilvision.com/.
Sturm, M., J. Holmgren, M. König, and K. Morris. 1997. “The thermal conductivity of seasonal snow.” J. Glaciol. 43 (143): 26–41. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022143000002781.
Vaudrey, K. D. 1994. Construction and Maintenance of the ice wharf at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Contract Rep. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation.
Wagner, A. M., and G. L. Blaisdell. 2020. Concept for artificial freezing of sea ice at Winter Quarters Bay, Antarctica. Technical Rep. No. ERDC/CRREL TR-20-9. Engineer Research and Development Center. Hanover, NH: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. https://doi.org/10.21079/11681/37701.
Wagner, A. M., and E. Yarmak, Jr. 2012. Demonstration of an Artificial Frozen Barrier: Installation Report. Hanover, NH: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Engineer Research and Development Center.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2022 Published by American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 23, 2021
Accepted: Feb 20, 2022
Published online: Apr 27, 2022
Published in print: Sep 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Sep 27, 2022
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.