Ice wharves in the Antarctic

Abstract

Natural ice wharves are used on a regular basis for unloading ships at the Soviet Antarctic station at Molodezhnaya and Novolazarevskaya, and less frequently at Mirnyy. Recession of the ice fronts due to thermal abrasion is posing problems at both locations, due to resultant shallowing of water depths alongside. The authors discuss the feasibility of stabilizing the retreating ice fronts by means of cooling the ice through the use of heat exchangers, or of creating artificial ice wharves by building up a massive ice body through repeatedly flooding the surface of the fast ice, as has been successfully achieved by the Americans at McMurdo Sound.