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View from the Akademik Shokalsky a day ago
from the NYTimes.com |
Nearly a week ago, the Russian ship,
Akademik Shokalskiy ship became trapped in ice in the Antarctic. The ship is an ice-strengthened expedition vessel, currently carrying both tourists and scientists studying environmental change near Cape de la Motte, about 1,700 miles south of Hobart, Tasmania. Strong winds pushed the ice pack against the ship, with ice thicknesses around 10 m. Earlier a Chinese vessel, the
Xue Long attempted the rescue, but was frustrated by thick ice over the weekend.
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The Russian icebreaker Krasin leading
an American supply ship into McMurdo Station
from Wiki here. |
Now,
the Australian icebreaker, the Aurora Australis, is only 11 nautical miles from the ship and nearing a rescue. At the moment, the link above shows the view from the ships webcam! So, how do icebreakers work? The primary job of the icebreaker is to crush the icpack and move it aside whiteout becoming stuck itself. According to
Marshall Brain on "How Stuff Works", an icebreaker has characteristics that help it do this: (1) a high-strength hull; (2) a large mass to help it maintain momentum so that it doesn't get stuck itself; and (3) power to overcome the drag of the crushed ice. Must be a noisy place!
Here's a bit more from
Wiki: The icebreakers push straight into the ice, breaking up the ice, sometimes even driving its bow onto the ice surface so that the weight of the ship helps break up the ice. The design of the hull is such that the broken ice is then directed around or under the vessel. The design is also optimized to minimize damage to the propellers and other parts of the icebreaker itself. Icebreakers have variously been steam-powered, diesel -powered, and nuclear-powered. They have been designed to function on rivers (e.g., in Europe) as well as on the open ocean. The photo shown next is of a successful rescue.
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