MCMURDO ICE WHARF - SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE OBSERVATIONS DURING DEEP FREEZE 67.

• Main Author: Paige, Russell A.
• Other Authors: NAVAL CIVIL ENGINEERING LAB PORT HUENEME CA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1967
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Structural Engineering and Building Technology; *PIERS; *SEA ICE; EROSION; OCEAN WAVES; ICE; SURFACE PROPERTIES; DRAINAGE; SAND; ROCK; COASTAL REGIONS; STABILITY; CORE SAMPLING; DEEP FREEZE OPERATION; MCMURDO SOUND; SUMMER; McMurdo Sound; McMurdo Station; Winter Quarters Bay; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0822004; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0822004

The wharf at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, consists of a limited area of fast ice, or old sea ice, that has accumulated along the western shore of Winter Quarters Bay. This facility is critically needed for safe, efficient unloading of cargo ships for Operation Deep Freeze. Since Deep Freeze 64 (DF-64) when the fast ice was first used as a wharf, surface erosion, undercutting of the vertical ice face by wave action, and the caving off of large slabs of the surface during summer have damaged and deteriorated the usable wharf area. Observations during DF-67 showed that wave action is the primary cause of undercutting and indicates that surface erosion has been essentially eliminated by proper drainage control. Twelve-inch-diameter cores from a depth of 38 feet show that the ice wharf consists of 20 feet of white, slightly saline, bubbly ice underlain by 30 to 40 feet of dense, grey ice containing layers and lenses of basaltic rock debris. Additional subsurface exploration with a tricone bit defines the approximate size and shape of the ice wharf and indicates that the amount of fast ice available for the wharf is definitely limited and rapidly disappearing. It is concluded that measures are urgently needed to protect the wharf from further loss of surface area. (Author)