Complaints grow over $1 billion U.S. Antarctic icebreaker design

In Antarctica, German and South Korean icebreaking research ships regularly fly helicopters to reach remote glaciers. The U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) 30-year-old RV Nathaniel B. Palmer can also carry helicopters. And the British Antarctic Survey’s new RRS Sir David Attenborough has not only a helideck and hangar, but also a “moonpool” port in its hull for deploying undersea instruments. The planned design for the $1 billion U.S. Antarctic Research Vessel (ARV), a proposed icebreaker intended to replace the Palmer in the early 2030s, includes neither of those features, however . Some U.S. polar scientists are frustrated by the omissions. “Why is the United States stepping backwards at a core level?” asks Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Scambos last year urged NSF and other science policy leaders to reconsider the ARV design in an open letter co-signed by more than two dozen Antarctic researchers. “Building a new icebreaker is a generational investment,” says Julia Wellner, a marine geologist at the University of Houston. “Limiting an entire generation’s access to the coastal area—where we know there’s some of the most important science we can do for understanding ice sheet mass balance—doesn’t make sense.” Ship-based helicopter support is particularly important for Antarctic glacial research, said scientists at a workshop held last month ...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news