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 an American Antarctic research station on the southern tip of Ross Island. 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, though the population fluctuates seasonally and during the antarctic night which has 24- hour darkness there is as little as a few hundred people. It serves as one of three year-round United States Antarctic science facilities. Personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station usually first pass through McMurdo, either by flight or by the McMurdo to South Pole Traverse; it is a hub for activities and science projects in Antarctica. McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott, and Palmer are the three United States stations on the continent, though by the Antarctic Treaty System the bases are not a legal claim ; they are dedicated to scientific research. New Zealand's Scott Base is nearby on Hut Peninsula and across the channel is a helicopter refueling station at Marble Point. The bases are served by airfields and a port, though access can be limited by weather conditions which can make it too hard to land aircraft, and an icebreaker may be needed to reach the port facility.
The Lockheed LC-130 is a ski-equipped United States Air Force variant of the C-130 Hercules used in the Arctic and Antarctic. Ten are currently in service with the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard.
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.
Operation Deep Freeze 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.. Given the continuing and constant US presence in Antarctica since that date, "Operation Deep Freeze" has come to be used as 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.
A blue ice runway is a runway constructed in Antarctic areas with no net annual snow accumulation. The density of the ice increases as air bubbles are forced out, strengthening the resultant ice surface so that aircraft landings using wheels instead of skis can be supported. Such runways simplify the transfer of materials to research stations, since wheeled aircraft can carry much heavier loads than ski-equipped aircraft.
Port Stanley Airport, also merely known as Stanley Airport, is a small civil airport in the Falkland Islands, located two miles from the capital, Stanley. This airport is the only civilian airport in the islands with a paved runway. However, the military airbase at RAF Mount Pleasant, located to the west of Stanley, functions as the islands' main international airport, because it has a long runway capable of handling wide-body aircraft, and allows civilian flights by prior permission from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). Port Stanley Airport is owned by the Government of the Falkland Islands, operated by the Falkland Islands Government Air Service, and is used for internal flights between the islands and flights between the Falklands and Antarctica. It has two asphalt-paved runways; its main runway 09/27 is 918 by 19 metres, and its secondary runway 18/36 is 338 metres long.
The 109th Airlift Wing is a unit of the New York Air National Guard, stationed at Stratton Air National Guard Base, Schenectady, New York. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command.
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. Williams Field is the major airfield for on-continent aircraft operations in Antarctica.
The Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) is a United States Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center research facility headquartered in Hanover, New Hampshire, that provides scientific and engineering support to the U.S. government and its military with a core emphasis on cold environments. CRREL also provides technical support to non-government customers.
Sewart Air Force Base (1941–1971) is a former United States Air Force base located in Smyrna, about 25 miles southeast of Nashville, Tennessee. During World War II, it was known as Smyrna Army Airfield.
The Annual Sea-Ice Runway is a type of seasonal ice runway made on frozen McMurdo Sound for the U.S. Antarctic Program during the summer Antarctic field season in proximity to Hut Point Peninsula, which has McMurdo Station and Scott Base. The ice runway was used since the 1950s when the bases were established, but has fallen out favor in 2010s in favor of two runways on land, at Williams Field (NZWD) and the compacted snow runway at Phoenix Airfield (NZFX), which replaced Pegasus Field (NZPG) in 2017. The ice runway was prepared on frozen sea ice on open water in McMurdo Sound, so its exact location varied slightly year to year. The ice was strong enough to land large transport aircraft with traditional landing gear, and no aircraft broke through the ice in its operation; however, parked aircraft had to be monitored if they lowered the ice too much and this is due to the special properties of floating ice.
Troll Airfield is an airstrip located 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi) from the research station Troll in Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. Owned and operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute, it consists of a 3,300-by-100-metre runway on glacial blue ice on the Antarctic ice sheet. The airport is located at 1,232 metres (4,042 ft) above mean sea level and is 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast.
Patriot Hills Base Camp was a private seasonally occupied camp in Antarctica. It was located in the Heritage Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, next to the Patriot Hills that gave it its name.
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.
The 139th Airlift Squadron is a unit of the New York Air National Guard 109th Airlift Wing Stationed at Stratton Air National Guard Base, Schenectady, New York. The 139th is equipped with the specialized ski-equipped LC-130H Hercules for polar operations.
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.
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.
