12-29 note

Noon McMurdo time, Thursday 12-29-2005

The icebreaker that was just a dim dot on the horizon two days ago (see the previous post) has made quite a bit of headway in the last 36 hours. Last night at midnight it was about 1.5 miles out from the station. Thismorning it is sitting probably 1/2 a mile from the dock, and it has begun breaking up a wide corner for itself and the later ships to turn in to get to the ice dock. It has spent much of the morning first breaking a single channel, and then gradually widening the channel sothat it can turn and circle back to its initial channel. After making this circle, it will break up the ice inside the circle to form the opencorner for ships to turn in. After it breaks up the ice in this corner, it will finally break the last portion of the path in to the ice dock. The ice breaker seems to make about 1/2 to 1 ship's length per run at the fresh ice. When widening the existing channel it is able to grind along the edge of the channel for many boat lengths. The ice out there appears to be a few feet thick still, but it's hard to tell from my vantage point at the station.