Icebreaker Deal to Keep Antarctic Research Afloat

摘要

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has agreed to pay a Russian company $8 million for the use of an icebreaker to cut a channel to resupply McMurdo Station in Antarctica, including the delivery of diesel fuel needed to support research throughout the continent. For the past 5 years, NSF has used the Swedish icebreaker and research vessel Oden, but in July the Swedish government decided to keep the ship at home next winter (Science, 19 August, p. 927). Unfortunately for Swedish oceanographers, its Russian replacement, the Vladimir Ignatyuk, is not capable of supporting research. And Finland will be leasing Oden for the next 5 years, adding to their suspicions that the government doesn't value polar research.