Misplaced Pages

#36963

69-478: In 1956, during Operation Deep Freeze II, USS  Arneb was damaged by an ice floe at Cape Hallett. On 16 October 1958, a Douglas C-124C Globemaster II (52-1017) of the USAF crashed into a 3200-foot mountain near Cape Hallett Bay while maneuvering, killing 7 of the 13 occupants. The Globemaster was on an airdrop flight from Christchurch to McMurdo Station and other navigational errors had occurred prior to

138-668: A bottom dredge was collected. In both these locations the metamorphic rocks are mylonites deformed in the Cretaceous suggesting extreme stretching of the Ross Embayment during that time. Marie Byrd Land – Rocks exposed in western Marie Byrd Land on the Edward VII Peninsula and within the Ford Ranges are candidates for basement in the eastern Ross Sea. The oldest rocks are Permian sediments of

207-507: A coincident decrease in the number of orcas. The report recommended a full moratorium on fishing over the Ross shelf. In October 2012, Philippa Ross, James Ross' great, great, great granddaughter, voiced her opposition to fishing in the area. In the southern winter of 2017 New Zealand scientists discovered the breeding ground of the Antarctic toothfish in the northern Ross Sea seamounts for

276-659: A contract period of 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 years. Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica , between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment , and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who visited this area in 1841. To the west of the sea lies Ross Island and Victoria Land, to

345-446: A deep continental shelf . Although the average depth of the world's continental shelves (at the shelf break joining the continental slope) is about 130 meters, the Ross shelf average depth is about 500 meters. It is shallower in the western Ross Sea (east longitudes) than the east (west longitudes). This over-deepened condition is due to cycles of erosion and deposition of sediments from expanding and contracting ice sheets overriding

414-612: A general term for US operations in that continent, and in particular for the regular missions to resupply US Antarctic bases, coordinated by the United States military . Task Force 199 was involved. The U.S. Navy already had a record of earlier exploration in Antarctica. As early as 1839, Captain Charles Wilkes led the first U.S. Naval expedition into Antarctic waters. In 1929, Admiral Richard E. Byrd established

483-581: A naval base at Little America I, led an expedition to explore further inland, and conducted the first flight over the South Pole. From 1934 to 1935, the second Byrd Expedition explored much further inland and also "wintered over". The third Byrd Expedition in 1940 charted the Ross Sea . Byrd was instrumental in the Navy's Operation Highjump after World War II from 1946 to 1947, which charted most of

552-731: A proposal for a Ross Sea MPA at the September 2012 meeting of the CCAMLR . At this stage, a sustained campaign by various international and national NGOs commenced to accelerate the process. In July 2013, the CCAMLR held a meeting in Bremerhaven in Germany, to decide whether to turn the Ross Sea into an MPA. The deal failed due to Russia voting against it, citing uncertainty about whether

621-491: A rich marine fauna. At least ten mammal species, six bird species and 95 fish species are found here, as well as many invertebrates, and the sea remains relatively unaffected by human activities. New Zealand has claimed that the sea comes under its jurisdiction as part of the Ross Dependency . Marine biologists consider the sea to have a high level of biological diversity and it is the site of much scientific research. It

690-720: A series of glacial marine sedimentary units deposited during multiple advances and retreats of the Antarctic Ice Sheet across the sea floor of the Ross Sea during the Oligocene and later. Drill holes have recovered cores of rock from the western edges of the sea. The most ambitious recent efforts are the Cape Roberts Project (CRP) and the ANDRILL project. Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Leg 28 completed several holes (270–273) farther from land in

759-626: A specially trained Navy Construction Battalion , formed at the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Davisville, Rhode Island and several aircraft. On October 31, 1956, at 8:34 p.m. local time, the first aircraft ever to touch down at the South Pole skied to a halt atop the Antarctic ice sheet at 90 degrees South latitude. The U.S. Navy R4D, was piloted by Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Conrad C. "Gus" Shinn USN and included officer Frederick Ferrara. Immediately after

SECTION 10

#1732798425037

828-636: A year. The actual transition to Air Guard control began in March 1996. By 1999, the United States Navy had transferred military support operations for Antarctica over to the United States Air Force and its contractor Raytheon Polar Services . Operation Deep Freeze was managed by the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard members of Air National Guard Detachment 13 , a subordinate unit which administratively reported directly to

897-509: Is also the focus of some environmentalist groups who have campaigned to have the area proclaimed as a world marine reserve. In 2016 an international agreement established the region as a marine park . The Ross Sea was discovered by the Ross expedition in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano ; in the east is Roosevelt Island . The southern part is covered by

966-477: Is an ongoing project which will take several years to complete. An area of 74 ha is protected under the Antarctic Treaty System as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No.106 because it contains habitats with a rich and diverse range of plant communities that are the most extensive and representative examples known at the northern end of the latitudinal gradient of Victoria Land and

1035-413: Is codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica , beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There was an initial operation before Admiral Richard Byrd proposed 'Deep Freeze'). Given the continuing and constant US presence in Antarctica since that date, "Operation Deep Freeze" has come to be used as

1104-510: Is considerable in spring and winter, due to influencing tides. The Ross Sea is covered with ice for much of the year and ice concentrations and in the south-central region little melting occurs. Ice concentrations in the Ross Sea are influenced by winds with ice remaining in the western region throughout the austral spring and generally melting in January due to local heating. This leads to extremely strong stratification and shallow mixed layers in

1173-678: The Air Staff , and the United States Navy. Among other issues, it was difficult at first for the Air Guard to convince the Air Staff to commit long term resources to an area of the world that had not been declared a warfighting region because of international treaties. The Air Guard had supported military operations in Greenland and the Arctic (including classified U.S. Navy operations) since

1242-721: The Fosdick Mountains and Alexandra Mountains . These were metamorphosed and deformed in the Cretaceous. The Ross Supergroup system and Beacon Supergroup – Ross System rocks exposed in Victoria Land and in the Transantarctic Mountains on the western side of the Ross Sea are possible basement rock below the sedimentary cover of the sea floor. The rocks are of upper Precambrian to lower Paleozoic in age, deformed in many places during

1311-676: The International Union for Conservation of Nature definition of a marine protected area , which requires it to be permanent. Beginning in 2005, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) commissioned scientific analysis and planning for Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Antarctic. In 2010, the CCAMLR endorsed their Scientific Committee's proposal to develop Antarctic MPAs for conservation purposes. The US State Department submitted

1380-864: The Nimrod Glacier are four block faulted ranges that make up the Byrd Group. The contents of the Queen Maud Group area are mainly post-tectonic granite . Beacon Sandstone of Devonian - Triassic age and the Ferarr volcanic rocks of Jurassic age are separated from the Ross Supergroup by the Kukri Peneplain . Beacon rocks are reported to have been recovered in the drill cores of the Cape Roberts Project at

1449-594: The North Pole to the South Pole and at points in between. The United States along with New Zealand , the United Kingdom , France , Japan , Norway , Chile , Argentina , and the U.S.S.R. agreed to go to the South Pole, the least explored area on Earth. Their goal was to advance world knowledge of Antarctic hydrography and weather systems , glacial movements , and marine life . The U.S. Navy

SECTION 20

#1732798425037

1518-548: The Ross Ice Shelf . Roald Amundsen started his South Pole expedition in 1911 from the Bay of Whales , which was located at the shelf. In the western parts of the Ross Sea, McMurdo Sound is a port that is usually free of ice during the summer. The southernmost part of the Ross Sea is Gould Coast , which is approximately 200 miles (320 km) from the geographic South Pole . The Ross Sea (and Ross Ice Shelf ) overlies

1587-727: The United States National Guard announced that the 109th Airlift Wing at Schenectady County Airport in Scotia, New York was slated to assume that entire mission from the United States Navy in 1999. The Antarctic operation would be fully funded by the National Science Foundation. The 109th expected to add approximately 235 full-time personnel to support that operation. The decision to switch from Naval leadership to National Guard

1656-621: The Zealandia microcontinent from Antarctica in Gondwana during Cretaceous time. Paleogene and Neogene -age and faulting and extension is restricted to the Victoria Land Basin and Northern Basin. Basement grabens are filled with rift sediments of uncertain character and age. A widespread unconformity has cut into the basement and sedimentary fill of the large basins. Above this major unconformity (named RSU-6 ) are

1725-448: The 109th would be largely out of business because its primary mission had ended. The unit had been informally keeping tabs on Navy LC-130 operations supporting the National Science Foundation in Antarctica. Because of its aging aircraft fleet and extensive depot maintenance period, the United States Navy asked if the 109th could provide limited emergency search and rescue (SAR) capability for two years to support Operation Deep Freeze, which

1794-449: The Air Guard accepted. At that time, it had no thought of taking over the mission. The 109th believed it to be an exercise in futility for its aircraft to deploy to the Antarctic to merely wait for emergency SAR missions, so it asked if the Navy could help carry cargo to the South Pole . The Navy resisted at first because its procedures and cargo configurations differed from those of the Air Guard, but eventually it agreed. The main mission of

1863-803: The Air National Guard Readiness Center (ANGRC) at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland , and operationally reported to United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) in Honolulu, Hawaii . Upon its deactivation in 2005, the detachment consisted of a full-time officer (Commander) and four full-time non-commissioned officers (Logistics, Communications, Security Forces, and Information Management) which remained in New Zealand year-round. Operational command now belongs to Commander, Thirteenth Air Force as part of USPACOM. In 2005, through

1932-539: The Antarctic coastline. In 1948, Commander Finn Ronne led an expedition that photographed over 450,000 square miles (1.1 million km ) by air. Then in 1954–55, the icebreaker USS Atka made a scouting expedition for future landing sites and bays. The impetus behind Operation Deep Freeze I was the International Geophysical Year 1957–58. IGY as it was known was a collaborative effort among forty nations to carry out earth science studies from

2001-519: The Antarctic continent are overseen by the United States Antarctic Program as well as the National Science Foundation. Military support missions flown from Christchurch International Airport are conducted during the Antarctic summer (late September to early March) each year by The 109th Airlift Wing Scotia New York. The Ski equipped LC-130 Hercules is the backbone of Operation Deep Freeze. LC-130 Hercules aircraft provide

2070-662: The Northern and Victoria Land Basin in the west, the Central Trough, and the Eastern Basin, which has approximately the same width as the other three. The Coulman High separates the Victoria Land Basin and Central Trough and the Central High separates the Central Trough and Eastern Basin. The majority of the faulting and accompanying graben formation along with crustal extension occurred during the rifting away of

2139-672: The Pole. Amundsen's party survived the 800-mile return trip, Scott's did not. This flight was one part of the expeditions mounted for the IGY. This was not only the first aircraft to land at the South Pole, it was also the first time that Americans had ever set foot on the South Pole. The aircraft was named Que Sera, Sera after a popular song and is now on display at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida . This marked

Cape Hallett - Misplaced Pages Continue

2208-665: The Robertson Bay Group and include dark slates, argillites , siltstones , fine sandstones and limestones. They can be found near the Priestley and Campbell glaciers. For thirty miles along the lower Skelton Glacier are the calcareous greywackes and argillites of the Skelton Group. The region between the lower Beardmore Glacier and the lower Shackelton Glacier sits the Beardmore Group. North of

2277-619: The Ross Orogeny in the Cambrian . These miogeosyncline metasedimentary rocks are partly composed of calcium carbonate , often including limestone . Groups within the Ross System include the Robertson Bay Group, Priestley Group, Skelton Group, Beardmore Group, Byrd Group, Queen Maud Group, and Koettlitz Group. The Robertson Bay Group compares closely with other Ross System members. The Priestley Group rocks are similar to those of

2346-619: The Ross Sea include the Adélie penguin , emperor penguin , Antarctic petrel , snow petrel , and south polar skua . Marine mammals in the Ross Sea include the Antarctic minke whale , killer whale , Weddell seal , crabeater seal , and leopard seal . Antarctic toothfish , Antarctic silverfish , Antarctic krill , and crystal krill also swim in the cold Antarctic water of the Ross Sea. The flora and fauna are considered similar to other southern Antarctic marine regions. Particularly in Summer,

2415-451: The Ross Sea is dominated by a wind-driven ocean gyre and the flow is strongly influenced by three submarine ridges that run from southwest to northeast. The circumpolar deep water current is a relatively warm, salty and nutrient-rich water mass that flows onto the continental shelf at certain locations. The Ross Sea is covered with ice for most of the year. The nutrient-laden water supports an abundance of plankton and this encourages

2484-466: The Ross Sea. Surveys have recorded 18 species of lichens and five species of mosses , dominated by Bryum subrotundifolium . Animals found at the site include, as well as four species of mites and three of springtails , breeding colonies of south polar skuas and Adélie penguins . A large Adélie penguin colony occupies Seabee Hook , on the west side of Hallett Peninsula between Moubray Bay and Edisto Inlet . The history of human impact on

2553-579: The Swanson Formation, which is slightly metamorphosed. The Ford granodiorite of Devonian age intrudes these sediments. Cretaceous Byrd Coast granite in turn intrudes the older rocks. The Byrd Coast and older formations have been cut by basalt dikes . Scattered through the Ford Ranges and Fosdick Mountains are late Cenozoic volcanic rocks that are not found to the west on Edward VII Peninsula. Metamorphic rocks, migmatites , are found in

2622-468: The U.S. Navy and Air National Guard C-130s was to airlift fuel and supplies to the National Science Foundation's South Pole Station so that its personnel could survive the isolation of the long Antarctic winter, which lasted from February to October. An Air National Guard working group had been formed to study the idea in 1990. The following year, a dialog began among the Air National Guard,

2691-587: The beginning of the establishment of the first permanent base, by airlift, at the South Pole (today known as the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station ) to support the International Geophysical Year. It was commissioned on January 1, 1957. The original station ("Old Byrd") lasted about four years before it began to collapse under the snow. Construction of a second underground station in a nearby location began in 1960, and it

2760-489: The calm. The coastal parts of the sea contain a number of rookeries of Adélie and Emperor penguins, which have been observed at a number of places around the Ross Sea, both towards the coast and outwards in open sea. A 10-metre (32.8 feet) long colossal squid weighing 495 kilograms (1,091 lb) was captured in the Ross Sea on February 22, 2007. In 2010, the Ross Sea Antarctic toothfish fishery

2829-648: The central and western portions of the sea. These resulted in defining a stratigraphy for most of the older glacial sequences, which comprise Oligocene and younger sediments. The Ross Sea-wide major unconformity RSU-6 has been proposed to mark a global climate event and the first appearance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Oligocene. During 2018, Expedition 374 of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP),

Cape Hallett - Misplaced Pages Continue

2898-495: The colony through the occupation of Hallett Station, and the subsequent closure of the station, together with the availability of reliable historical data on colony population size, make the site unique and ideal for the study of impacts on, and recovery of, the colony after substantial ecosystem disturbance. 72°19′00″S 170°16′00″E  /  72.3166667°S 170.2666667°E  / -72.3166667; 170.2666667 Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze

2967-407: The commission had the authority to establish a marine protected area. In October 2014, the MPA proposal was again defeated at the CCAMLR by votes against from China and Russia. At the October 2015 meeting a revised MPA proposal from the US and New Zealand was expanded with the assistance of China, who however shifted the MPA's priorities from conservation by allowing commercial fishing. The proposal

3036-428: The crash. The cape was the location of a joint scientific base, Hallett Station, between the United States and New Zealand during the International Geophysical Year of 1957, and was manned permanently until 1964, when there was a major fire. It was then used as a summer only base until 1973. The site is currently being remediated by removing hazardous materials: fuel, and oil stored in several large tanks. This

3105-410: The east Roosevelt Island and Edward VII Peninsula in Marie Byrd Land, while the southernmost part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf , and is about 200 miles (320 km) from the South Pole . Its boundaries and area have been defined by the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research as having an area of 637,000 square kilometres (246,000 sq mi). The circulation of

3174-453: The first time underscoring how little is known about the species. On 28 October 2016, at its annual meeting in Hobart , a Ross Sea marine park was declared by the CCAMLR, under an agreement signed by 24 countries and the European Union . It protected over 1.5 million square kilometers of sea and was the world's largest protected area at the time. However, a sunset provision of 35 years was part of negotiations, which means it does not meet

3243-408: The latest successor to the DSDP, drilled additional holes (U1521–1525) in the central Ross Sea for determining Neogene and Quaternary ice sheet history. The nature of the basement rocks and the fill within the grabens are known in few locations. Basement rocks have been sampled at DSDP Leg 28 drill site 270 where metamorphic rocks of unknown age were recovered, and in the eastern Ross Sea where

3312-476: The logistical movement of cargo to remote operating locations on the continent. These aircraft are augmented by the United States Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Polar Star , the Air Force Materiel Command , and the Military Sealift Command . The United States Air Force 13th Air Expeditionary Group deploys to Christchurch, New Zealand during the operational season. A documentary on the early missions, Ice Eagles: An Account of American Aviation in Antarctica ,

3381-464: The mid-1970s with the ski-equipped C-130s of the 109th Airlift Wing . It convinced Headquarters, United States Air Force that it was not in the nation's best interest to abandon the capability to achieve quick and reliable air access to both polar regions. In March 1993, the U.S. Navy hosted a two-day workshop with representatives of the National Science Foundation, Air National Guard, and other interested parties to explore logistics support options for

3450-452: The mission. The Navy's Antarctic Development Squadron Six had been flying scientific and military missions to Greenland and the arctic compound's Williams Field since 1975. The 109th operated ski-equipped LC-130s had been flying National Science Foundation support missions to Antarctica since 1988. The official name for the Navy's command in Antarctica was US Naval Support Force Antarctica, (NSFA) Terminal Operations. In early 1996,

3519-461: The mission. When fully transitioned to the Air National Guard, the 109th Airlift Wing would have ten LC-130s in its inventory. These would include upgrades of four LC-130 aircraft in-service with the unit plus three new aircraft and three that would be transferred from the U.S. Navy. Air National Guard estimates of the savings to be realized by consolidating the operation in the hands of the 109th Airlift Wing ranged from US $ 5 million to US$ 15 million

SECTION 50

#1732798425037

3588-450: The nutrient-rich sea water supports an abundant planktonic life in turn providing food for larger species, such as fish , seals , whales , and sea- and shore- birds . Albatrosses rely on wind to travel and cannot get airborne in a calm. The westerlies do not extend as far south as the ice edge and therefore albatrosses do not travel often to the ice-pack. An albatross would be trapped on an ice floe for many days if it landed in

3657-427: The office of the Secretary of Defense, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command was designated to support the Joint Task Force Support Forces Antarctica, Operation Deep Freeze. CDRUSPACOM delegated this joint operation to the Commander, Pacific Air Forces , who then delegated primary responsibility for execution of the JTF SFA operation to the Commander, 13th Air Force . United States civilian and scientific operations on

3726-445: The operation. A draft concept of operations had been prepared by the Air Directorate of the National Guard Bureau in 1993. In February 1996, a commitment was made to transfer the Operation Deep Freeze mission and all LC-130H aircraft operating within the U.S. Department of Defense to the Air National Guard. In September 1996, senior officers from the 109th Airlift Wing briefed the National Guard Bureau on their concept of operations and

3795-430: The plane halted--with engines running to avoid a freeze-up (a practice still followed to this day)--U.S. Navy Adm. George J. Dufek., commander of Operation Deep Freeze, stepped out onto the ice, along with pilot Douglas Cordiner, to plant the stars and stripes at the Pole. They were the first to stand there since Briton Robert Falcon Scott did more than 40 years before. Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten Scott in his race to

3864-494: The rare opportunity to protect the Ross Sea from a growing number of threats and destruction. The Ross Sea is regarded by marine biologists as having a very high biological diversity and as such has a long history of human exploration and scientific research, with some datasets going back over 150 years. The Ross Sea is home to at least 10 mammal species, half a dozen species of birds, 95 species of fish, and over 1,000 invertebrate species. Some species of birds that nest in and near

3933-537: The shelf during Oligocene and later time, and is also found on other locations around Antarctica. Erosion was more focused on the inner parts of the shelf while deposition of sediment dominated the outer shelf, making the inner shelf deeper than the outer. Seismic studies in the latter half of the twentieth century defined the major features of the geology of the Ross Sea. The deepest or basement rocks, are faulted into four major north trending graben systems, which are basins for sedimentary fill. These basins include

4002-421: The shelf is known to be persistent and periodic, and is thought to occur at specific locations influenced by bottom topography. The circulation of the Ross Sea is dominated by a wind-driven gyre . The flow is strongly influenced by three submarine ridges that run from southwest to northeast. Flow over the shelf below the surface layer consists of two anticyclonic gyres connected by a central cyclonic flow. The flow

4071-410: The status of their preparations to implement Operation Deep Freeze. Under the transition plan which they had developed, the Air National Guard would continue to augment the United States Navy during the October 1996 – March 1997 operating season for the United States Antarctic Program . At the end of the October 1997 – March 1998 season, the Air National Guard would assume command of the program. During

4140-506: The third year of the transition program (October 1998 to March 1999), the U.S. Navy would augment the ANG before the latter took over the entire program the following year. There would be seven LC-130s in theater. They would stage from Christchurch International Airport in Christchurch , New Zealand, to McMurdo Station , Antarctica. Traditional Guardsmen, technicians, and the cadre of Active Guard Reservists specifically brought on board to support Operation Deep Freeze would all be involved in

4209-425: The way for more exhaustive research in later Deep Freeze operations. The expedition transpired over the Antarctic summer of November 1955 to April 1956, and was filmed by the U.S. Navy and Walt Disney Studios . For having designed the emblem of Task Force 43, Walt Disney became an honorary member of the expedition. Task Force 43 consisted of the following ships: The ships of the task force were supplemented by

SECTION 60

#1732798425037

4278-423: The western Ross Sea. Observation and data access in the region is coordinated by the Ross Sea Working Group of the Southern Ocean Observing System . The Ross Sea is one of the last stretches of seas on Earth that remains relatively unaffected by human activities. Consequently, the Ross Sea has become a focus of numerous environmentalist groups who have campaigned to make the area a world marine reserve, citing

4347-492: The western edge of the Ross Sea. The Ross Sea circulation, dominated by polynya processes, is in general very slow-moving. Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) is a relatively warm, salty and nutrient-rich water mass that flows onto the continental shelf at certain locations in the Ross Sea. Through heat flux, this water mass moderates the ice cover. The near-surface water also provides a warm environment for some animals and nutrients to excite primary production. CDW transport onto

4416-428: Was charged with supporting the U.S. scientists for their portion of the IGY studies. Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd , a veteran of four previous Antarctic Expeditions, was appointed as officer in charge of the expedition. In 1955, Task Force 43, commanded by Rear Admiral George J. Dufek , was formed to provide logistical support for the expedition. Operation Deep Freeze I prepared a permanent research station and paved

4485-466: Was independently certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, and has been rated as a 'Good Alternative' by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program . However, a 2008 document submitted to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) reported significant declines in toothfish populations of McMurdo Sound coinciding with the development of the industrial toothfishing industry since 1996, and other reports have noted

4554-411: Was later named Williams Field or Willy Field. The Operation Deep Freeze activities were succeeded by "Operation Deep Freeze II", and so on. In 1960, the year of the fifth mission, codenames began to be based on the year (e.g., "Operation Deep Freeze 60"). The Coast Guard sometimes participated; among others, the USCGC Northwind , the USCGC Polar Sea and the USCGC Glacier occasionally supported

4623-404: Was one of a cost-saving measure due to post cold war budget cuts. The possibility of the Air National Guard assuming operational control of the mission had first emerged in 1988. The 109th Airlift Wing had been notified that, almost overnight, one of the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW) radar sites that it supported in Greenland was going to be shut down. The other sites would soon follow, and

4692-416: Was scheduled to be released in 2016. Lockheed Martin is currently the prime contractor for the National Science Foundation's United States Antarctic Program. The contract award was announced via a NSF press release on 28 December 2011 after a bid solicitation process of almost four years. Support operations began on 1 April 2012. The original contract synopsis indicated that the government was contemplating

4761-411: Was used until 1972. The station was then converted into a summer-only field camp until it was abandoned in 2004–05. The mission's second base, Byrd Station , was a (former) research station in West Antarctica established by the US Navy for Operation Deep Freeze II during the International Geophysical Year. The United States Antarctic Program airfield, built to service Operation Deep Freeze (first mission)

#36963