Transport in Antarctica has transformed from explorers crossing the isolated remote area of Antarctica by foot to a more open era due to human technologies enabling more convenient and faster transport, predominantly by air and water, but also by land as well. Transportation technologies on a remote area like Antarctica need to be able to deal with extremely low temperatures and continuous winds to ensure the travelers' safety. Due to the fragility of the Antarctic environment, only a limited amount of transport movements can take place and sustainable transportation technologies have to be used to reduce the ecological footprint. The infrastructure of land, water and air transport needs to be safe and sustainable. Currently thousands of tourists and hundreds of scientists a year depend on the Antarctic transportation system.
McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,500 residents, and serves as one of three year-round United States Antarctic science facilities. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo. McMurdo Station continues to operate as the hub for American activities on the Antarctic continent. By road, McMurdo is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from New Zealand's smaller Scott Base.
The United States Antarctic Program is an organization of the United States government which has a presence in the Antarctica continent. Founded in 1959, the USAP manages all U.S. scientific research and related logistics in Antarctica as well as aboard ships in the Southern Ocean.
USS Glacier (AGB-4) was a U.S. Navy, then U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker which served in the first through fifteenth Operation Deep Freeze expeditions. Glacier was the first icebreaker to make her way through the frozen Bellingshausen Sea, and most of the topography in the area is named for her crew members. When built, Glacier had the largest capacity single armature DC motors ever installed on a ship. Glacier was capable of breaking ice up to 20 feet (6.1 m) thick, and of continuous breaking of 4-foot (1.2 m) thick ice at 3 knots.
Williams Field or Willy Field is a United States Antarctic Program airfield in Antarctica. Williams Field consists of two snow runways located on approximately 8 meters (25 ft) of compacted snow, lying on top of 8–10 ft of ice, floating over 550 meters (1,800 ft) of water. The airport, which is approximately seven miles from Ross Island, serves McMurdo Station and New Zealand's Scott Base. Until the 2009–10 summer season, Williams was the major airfield for on-continent aircraft operations in Antarctica.
Marble Point is a rocky promontory on the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. The United States operates a station at the point. The outpost is used as a helicopter refueling station supporting scientific research in the nearby continental interior, such as the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Dependent upon the weather conditions at the time, helicopters are able to fly in and out of the station 24 hours a day during the summer research season.
An ice pier or ice wharf is a man-made structure used to assist the unloading of ships in Antarctica. It is constructed by pumping seawater into a contained area and allowing the water to freeze. By repeating this procedure several times, additional layers are built up. The final structure is many metres in thickness, and strong enough to support container trucks. Operation Deep Freeze personnel constructed the first floating ice pier at Antarctica’s southernmost sea port at McMurdo Station in 1973. Ice piers have been in use each summer season since, at McMurdo's natural harbor at Winter Quarters Bay located at 77°50′S166°40′E. The harbor is positioned on the southern tip of Ross Island.
Hut Point Peninsula is a long, narrow peninsula from 3 to 5 km wide and 24 km (15 mi) long, projecting south-west from the slopes of Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica. McMurdo Station (US) and Scott Base (NZ) are Antarctic research stations located on the Hut Point Peninsula.
Winter Quarters Bay is a small cove of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, located 2,200 miles (3,500 km) due south of New Zealand at 77°50'S. The harbor is the southernmost port in the Southern Ocean and features a floating ice pier for summer cargo operations. The bay is approximately 250m wide and long, with a maximum depth of 33m. The name Winter Quarters Bay refers to Robert Falcon Scott's National Antarctic Discovery Expedition (1901–04) which wintered at the site for two seasons.
The Byrd Station is a former research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by U.S. Navy Seabees during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica.
Religion in Antarctica is largely dominated by Christianity, with churches being the only religious buildings on the continent. Although used regularly for Christian worship, the Chapel of the Snows has also been used for Buddhist and Baháʼí Faith ceremonies. Some of the early religious buildings are now protected as important historical monuments.
Oakley Glacier, is a glacier in the Mountaineer Range that descends east from Mount Casey to merge with the floating tongue from the Icebreaker Glacier at Lady Newnes Bay, in Victoria Land, Antarctica. Mapped by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960–64. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for Lieutenant Commander Donald C. Oakley, U.S. Navy (USN), Protestant chaplain with the winter party at McMurdo Station, 1967.
Creagh Glacier is a glacier, 4 nautical miles (7 km) long, flowing northeast from Creagh Icefall to the vicinity of Canoe Nunatak, Wilkniss Mountains, Victoria Land. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in 1994 after Father Gerry Creagh, a New Zealand citizen, who served as honorary U.S. Navy chaplain for over 25 summer seasons at the Chapel of the Snows, McMurdo Station. He was unofficially known as the "Chaplain of Antarctica."
Greenwood Valley is an ice-filled valley at the west side of Wilson Piedmont Glacier, lying between Staeffler Ridge and Mount Doorly in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Russell A. Greenwood, U.S. Navy, who was in charge of heavy equipment maintenance at McMurdo Station, 1962.
Martin Cirque is a prominent cirque, 1.9 nautical miles (3.5 km) northwest of Mount Newall, in the Asgard Range, Antarctica. It occupies the south wall of Wright Valley between Denton Glacier and Nichols Ridge. The cirque is 1 nautical mile (2 km) wide and its floor, at an elevation of 850 metres (2,800 ft), is nearly ice free. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (1997) after Craig J. Martin, who had 10 years involvement in Antarctic construction and engineering projects at Siple Station, South Pole Station, and McMurdo Station and various field camps in the McMurdo Dry Valleys from 1977. From 1989 he was Director, Engineering, of Antarctic Support Associates, with responsibility for the management of engineering, construction, and facilities maintenance efforts that directly support U.S. scientific research in Antarctica.
Antarctic Development Squadron Six was a United States Navy air test and evaluation squadron based at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California with forward operating bases at Christchurch, New Zealand and McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
St Saviour’s at Holy Trinity is an Anglican church in Lyttelton, Christchurch, New Zealand. St Saviour's Chapel was relocated from West Lyttelton to Christchurch's Cathedral Grammar School in the 1970s. Following the earthquakes and the demolition of Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton, St Saviour's was returned to Lyttelton to the site of Holy Trinity in 2013.
Pegasus Road is an 18-mile (29 km) long road of dirt and packed snow constructed by the United States Antarctic Program on Ross Island and the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The trip along the road from McMurdo Station to Pegasus Field takes approximately 45 minutes in a "Delta" wheeled vehicle, although on occasion high temperatures have damaged the runway and caused the road surface to deteriorate enough to lengthen the trip to two hours.
Phoenix Airfield is an airstrip in Antarctica opened in early 2017, designed to replace the Pegasus Field's role in serving McMurdo Station.
Charles A. Bevilacqua was a United States Navy Seabee who, during Operation Deep Freeze I, helped to build McMurdo Station and was then promoted to Chief Builder, in which role he led the building of Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station and the installation of the first South Pole "ceremonial pole", which he painted orange and black to honor his Woburn, Massachusetts, high school. He served with the Seabees construction battalions 1948–1978, including service in the Korean and Vietnam wars as well as Antarctica.
