Airfields on Antarctic Glacier Ice

The physical characteristics of blue ice ablation areas in Antarctica are described and some representative ablation rates are given. The possibilities for using blue-ice areas as airfields are outlined and exploratory surveys are mentioned. Site details are given for icefields at Mount Howe, Mill G...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mellor, Malcolm, Swithinbank, Charles
Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1989
Subjects:
Terminal Flight Facilities
Snow
Ice and Permafrost
*ICE
*LANDING FIELDS
*ANTARCTIC REGIONS
WEATHER
LOW COSTS
SPECIFICATIONS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SURFACE ROUGHNESS
RATES
COLD REGIONS
SURVEYS
LIMITATIONS
PATTERNS
MACHINES
TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT
RUNWAYS
POLAR CAP
SPECTRUM ANALYSIS
ROUGHNESS
GLACIERS
LAND ICE
MILITARY REQUIREMENTS
ROSS SEA
ABLATION
POLAR REGIONS
Antarctic
Ross Sea
Ross Ice Shelf
Transantarctic Mountains
McMurdo Station
Casey Station
Patriot Hills
Lechner
Mill Glacier
Mount Howe
Rosser Ridge
Mount Lechner
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice
Ice Shelf
permafrost
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA217638
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA217638
Description
Summary:The physical characteristics of blue ice ablation areas in Antarctica are described and some representative ablation rates are given. The possibilities for using blue-ice areas as airfields are outlined and exploratory surveys are mentioned. Site details are given for icefields at Mount Howe, Mill Glacier, Patriot Hills, Rosser Ridge, Mount Lechner, S1 near Casey station, and on the Ross Ice Shelf near McMurdo station. The surface roughness of blue ice is discussed, microrelief surveys are presented for Mount Howe and Patriot Hills, and spectral analyses are used to develop relations between bump height and wavelength. U.S. military specifications for the roughness limits of various types of runways are summarized and graphical comparisons are made with the roughness analyses for Mount Howe and Patriot Hills. Special machines for smoothing ice runways are discussed and design specifications are developed. Some notes on ground facilities and ground transport are included. Appendices give discussions of weather patterns in the Transantarctic Mountains and methodology for making spectral analyses of surface roughness. It is concluded that glacier-ice airfields for conventional transport aircraft can be developed at low cost in Antarctica. Recommendations for further work are offered. Keywords: Airfields, Antarctica, Blue ice, Cold regions, Ice, Ice runways, Land ice, Polar cap, Polar regions, Runways.

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