Karl Erb, Director of NSF's Office of Polar Programs said the real effect of the enormous iceberg had been to shield large parts of the Ross Sea from wind and ocean currents, with the result that sea ice had formed over a larger area than usual in the sea-lanes approaching McMurdo Sound. Before McMurdo Station can be resupplied icebreakers have to open a channel each year through which the resupply ships can proceed, and the icebreaker task will be more difficult this year. Erb expressed confidence that the U.S. Coast Guard and its crew aboard the icebreaker USCGC Polar Star will succeed. He added that NSF is currently arranging for a backup icebreaker that can assist the Polar Star if necessary. This is in response to a Coast Guard recommendation.

"There is absolutely no truth to reports circulating widely that the stations are facing a crisis when it comes to supplies of any kind, including food. Personnel at McMurdo and South Pole stations are in no danger," Erb said.

Some news media have conveyed the misimpression that an enormous iceberg, B-15A, is blocking ship access to the McMurdo Station seaport.

The U.S. research station at the geographic South Pole is more than 800 miles inland, and supplies are airlifted there from McMurdo after arriving on ships.

B-15A is a fragment of a much larger iceberg that broke away from the Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000. Scientists believe that the enormous piece of ice broke away as part of a long-term natural cycle (every 50-to-100 years, or so) in which the shelf--which is roughly the size of Texas-- sheds pieces much as human fingernails grow and break off.

The berg initially drifted toward McMurdo Sound and
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Contact: Dena Headlee
dheadlee@nsf.gov
703-292-7739
National Science Foundation
16-Dec-2004