Polar Icebreaker Roles and U.S. Future Needs A Preliminary Assessment (2005) / Chapter Skim
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5 Findings and Recommendations
5 Findings and Recommendations
Pages 27-32
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From page 27... ...
To partially ameliorate the single point of failure this represents, the National Science Foundation has begun to explore logistics alternatives for Antarctic support including conservation, redirection, and expanded storage of fuel at McMurdo Station, as well as alternative ground and air fuel and cargo delivery to the McMurdo and South Pole Stations. By using an altered logistics strategy it may be possible to maintain operations at the McMurdo and South Pole Stations despite an occasional missed annual channel break-in and the ship-borne portion of the McMurdo re-supply resulting from a year with 27
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From page 28... ...
If this ship is tasked to the Antarctic, as in 2002-2003, the main federal presence in Arctic waters is substantially reduced. The winter Arctic sea ice extends southward through the Bering Strait and into the northern Bering Sea so that the entire Alaskan northern coast and a substantial portion of the Alaskan western coast is ice-covered in winter.
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From page 29... ...
The two existing heavy icebreakers, POLAR STAR and POLAR SEA, have operated in both polar regions for 29 and 28 years, respectively and are near the ends of their operational design service lives. Both ships are inefficient to operate because they now require substantial and increasing maintenance efforts to keep vital ship systems operating, and their technological systems are becoming increasingly obsolescent.
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From page 30... ...
Moving budget authority for the icebreaking program to the NSF does not address the base funding problem, and increases the difficulty of management because management decisions related to the polar icebreakers are now spread across two agencies. Currently, the polar icebreakers are dual purpose ships, meeting both the NSF and the USCG mission responsibilities.
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From page 31... ...
including, but not limited to a full service life extension program for one or both existing heavy icebreaking ships, construction of one or more new ship(s) , and alternate methods of meeting identified needs including use of ice-strengthened vessels, hiring foreign vessels, and other options that do not use U.S.
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From page 32... ...
32 POLAR ICEBREAKER ROLES AND U.S. FUTURE NEEDS: A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT activity, and we will directly address this central issue in our final report.
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