Maintenance and Drainage Guidance for the Scott Base Transition, Antarctica

• Main Authors: Shoop, Sally, Hills, John, Uberuaga, Julia
• Other Authors: ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER HANOVER NH COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Civil Engineering; Surface Transportation and Equipment; *ANTARCTIC REGIONS; *DRAINAGE; *LAND ICE; *ROADS; *SNOW; AGGREGATES(MATERIALS); AIR TRAFFIC; BASE LINES; CONSTRUCTION; GUIDANCE; ICE; ISLANDS; LAND AREAS; MAINTENANCE; MATERIALS; MELTING; MOTION; PERSONNEL; REPAIR; SOILS; STATIONS; SURFACE PROPERTIES; TEMPERATURE; TOPOGRAPHY; TRAFFIC; TRANSITIONS; TRANSPORTATION; VEHICLES; ICE SHELF; SCOTT BASE TRANSITION(ANTARCTICA); Antarctic; Austral; McMurdo Station; Ross Island; Scott Base; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice; Ice Shelf; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA610788; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA610788

The snow roads at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, are the primary transportation corridors for moving personnel and material to and from the airfields servicing intra- and intercontinental air traffic. The majority of the road system is made of snow overlying a snow and ice subsurface. However, at the Scott Base Transition (SBT), the aggregate road leading from Scott Base transitions from the land mass of Ross Island on to the ice shelf and becomes a full depth snow road. Because of the transition between materials, the topography of the area, and extensive use during the austral summer, the SBT is prone to problems unique to that portion of the McMurdo road system and requires specific maintenance activities to remain passable during periods of higher temperatures. The SBT area is divided into two subsections: the Land Transition, a soil- or aggregate-surfaced road underlain by permafrost, and the Ice Transition, a snow-surfaced road underlain by snow and ice. The two sections of the SBT need entirely different construction and maintenance techniques to maintain road surface conditions that will support vehicle traffic. This document provides a baseline guide for construction, maintenance, and repairs of the two distinctly different segments of the SBT. The original document contains color images.