What is the purpose of the McMurdo Station?

Answer 1

Contemporary function and history A scene at McMurdo Station.

Today, McMurdo Station is Antarctica's largest community and a functional, modern day science station, which includes a harbor, 3 airfields[3] (2 seasonal), a heliport and over 100 buildings, including the Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center and a Bowling alley with an antique Brunswick manual pinset machine. There is even a 9-hole disc golf course on site. The primary focus of the work done at McMurdo Station is science, but most of the residents (approximately 1,000 in the summer and fewer than 200 in the winter) are not scientists, but station personnel who are there to provide support for operations, logistics, information technology, construction, and maintenance. Scientists and station personnel at McMurdo are participants in the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), which co-ordinates research and operational support in the region. Reports on the life and culture of McMurdo Station from the point of view of residents are rare. This 1983 image of the USNS Southern Cross at McMurdo Station depicts cargo operations on a floating ice pier. Such piers have been in use since 1973.

The M/V American Tern being led by the Russian icebreaker Krasin to McMurdo Station during Operation Deep Freeze 2006. Mount Erebus can be seen in the background.

The supply ship M/V American Tern during cargo operations at McMurdo Station during Operation Deep Freeze 2007.

An annual sealift by cargo ships as part of Operation Deep Freeze delivers 8 million US gallons (6.6 million imperial gallons/42 million L) of fuel and 11 million pounds (5 million kg) of supplies and equipment for McMurdo residents.[4] The ships are operated by the U.S. Military Sealift Command and are crewed by civilian mariners. Cargo may range from mail, construction materials, trucks, tractors, dry and frozen food, to scientific instruments. United States Coast Guard icebreakers break a ship channel through ice-clogged McMurdo Sound in order for supply ships to reach Winter Quarters Bay at McMurdo. Additional supplies and personnel are flown in to nearby Williams Field from Christchurch, New Zealand. A variety of fruits and vegetables are grown in a hydroponic green house at the station.[5] McMurdo Station is about 3 miles (5 km) from Scott Base, the New Zealand science station, and the entire island is located within New Zealand's Ross Dependency Antarctic claim. Recently there has been criticism leveled at the base regarding its construction projects, particularly the McMurdo-South Pole highway. [1] McMurdo has attempted to improve environmental management and waste removal over the past decade in order to adhere to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which was signed 4 October 1991 and entered into force 14 January 1998. This agreement prevents development and provides for the protection of the Antarctic environment through five specific annexes on marine pollution, fauna, and flora, environmental impact assessments, waste management, and protected areas. It prohibits all activities relating to mineral resources except scientific. Adhering to the Protocol, a new waste treatment facility was built at McMurdo in 2003. McMurdo (nicknamed "Mac-Town" by its residents) continues to operate as the hub for American activities on the Antarctic continent. McMurdo, for a time, had Antarctica's only television station, AFAN-TV, running vintage programs provided by the military. The station's equipment was susceptible to "electronic burping" from the diesel generators that provide electricity in the outpost. The station was profiled in a 1974 article in TV Guide magazine. Now, McMurdo receives four channels by satellite through satellite receivers at Black Island, 25 miles (40 km) away; the signals are relayed to McMurdo by digital microwave. Like the Australian and New Zealand stations in the Antarctic, McMurdo Station has direct-in/direct-out telephone connections to the outside world, in this case functioning as part of the New Zealand telephone system. The Antarctic station is also home to the continent's only ATM.[2] McMurdo Station briefly gained global notice when an anti-war protest was held on February 15, 2003. During the rally, about 50 scientists and station personnel gathered to protest the coming invasion of Iraq by the United States. McMurdo Station was the only Antarctic location to hold such a rally.