Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Overheated planet update: You know what icebreaker isn't sufficient for our warmist scientists in Antarctica? A 420-foot, 36 million-pound ship that can ram through 8 feet of ice and carry 1.2 million gallons of fossil fuel

Antarctic Research Upgrades Could Put Polar Science on Ice: Scientific American
The mounting cost of maintaining U.S. research operations in Antarctica is putting the squeeze on polar science, according to a new review by an independent panel commissioned by the White House. And solving the problem may require cutting science spending, at least temporarily.

The U.S. Antarctic Program, managed by the National Science Foundation, maintains three year-round stations on the southern continent and supports more than 50 field camps that spring up each summer, during the main Antarctic field season.
...
A separate budget problem: how to pay for a new U.S. icebreaker, a ship experts say is desperately needed. Augustine calls it "the elephant in the living room."

The current U.S. icebreaking fleet includes just one functional vessel, the Coast Guard cutter Healy. Designed and operated as a research ship, the Healy cannot break through the thickest ice...
The agency eventually managed to assuage Murmansk's concerns about its ship's ability to handle the thick ice near McMurdo, freeing the Ignatyuk to lead the next U.S. resupply cruise, after all.
...
When an unseasonably early storm hit Nome, Alaska, last November, it left the city's port inaccessible. Faced with the possibility that Nome could run out of fuel before spring thawed the ice blocking the port, the Coast Guard decided in early January to send its only working icebreaker, the Healy, to escort an oil tanker on an emergency fuel run.
Diesel-Powered Coast Guard Icebreaker - Diesel Power Magazine
[2010] The USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) is the United States' newest and most capable polar icebreaker. Thanks to its diesel-electric propulsion system, this ship is able to break through 5 1/2 feet of ice at 2.6 knots-continuously. Hotstart engine oil heaters keep the ship's operating temperatures constant when underway, and even while at port...

Length: 420 feet (largest ship in the Coast Guard)
...
Displacement: 16,400 LT (36,736,000 pounds)
Endurance: 16,000 nautical miles at 12.5 knots (65 days between replenishment)
Propulsion: Diesel-electric (four V-12 Sulzer diesel engines: 12Z AU40S, AC/AC Cyclo converters, and two Westinghouse AC Synchronous motors)
Ship control: Twin screws, twin rudders, 2,500hp bow thruster with Alstom dynamic positioning system power: 30,000 hp and 1,212,000 lb-ft of torque...
Observed capability: 51/2 feet at 2.6 knots continuous, up to 8 feet when ramming or backing up
Accommodations: 19 officers, 12 chief petty officers, 54 enlisted, 35 scientists, 15 surge, 2 visitors
...
Support Craft:
Helicopters: Two HH-65 Dolphins
Boats: 38-foot cargo boat, 38-foot arctic survey boat, and two 23-foot rigid-hull inflatables

...The Healy is capable of carrying 1,220,915 gallons of diesel fuel

1 comment:

intrepid_wanders said...

A separate budget problem: how to pay for a new U.S. icebreaker, a ship experts say is desperately needed. Augustine calls it "the elephant in the living room."

The current U.S. icebreaking fleet includes just one functional vessel, the Coast Guard cutter Healy. Designed and operated as a research ship, the Healy cannot break through the thickest ice...
The agency eventually managed to assuage Murmansk's concerns about its ship's ability to handle the thick ice near McMurdo, freeing the Ignatyuk to lead the next U.S. resupply cruise, after all.


Priceless... these ecotards (NSF) stopped funding a perfectly good icebreaker, the Polar Star:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Polar_Star_(WAGB-10)
...and now want a "New" icebreaker. I can understand they find that Canadian (Russian bought) icebreaker is a little outclassed, but Polar Star and Polar Sea are more than enough ship for the job.