Ice pier

Operation Deep Freeze personnel constructed the first floating ice pier at Antarctica’s southernmost sea port[1] at McMurdo Station in 1973.

The ice pier's key function is to provide a platform for freight trucks to come alongside a supply ship to receive or offload cargo.

Port officials distribute freight arriving at the dock to McMurdo Station, nearby Scott Base, and to field camps as far away as the South Pole.

Exports range from items such as scientific ice core samples and human waste collected from field camps to broken equipment and recyclables for return to the United States for processing.

Ships during that time moored alongside seasonal pack ice where military longshoremen offloaded cargo onto large snow sleds.

In 1987 workers constructed a similar pier in Mys Shmidta, a small seaport located in Chukotka, a far-eastern territory adjacent to Alaska on the Arctic Sea.

They build upon naturally occurring frozen seawater in McMurdo Sound after the pack ice reaches approximately 0.6 m (2.0 ft) in thickness.

Moreover, during the final construction phase, personnel mount shorter poles in the ice edge to serve as bollards to secure the pier to the shore at McMurdo.

A 15–20 cm (6–8 in) layer of volcanic gravel tops off the pier to provide a non-slip surface and to insulate the ice from the summer sun.

In addition, storm surges, wave action, contact with vessels, and the warm water discharge from ships contribute to degradation of the pier's seaward edge.

The principal threat is onshore winds with accompanying high seas and ocean swells, which can severely damage the ice pier.

Rough seas produced movements of several feet between individual sections of the pier, according to a National Science Foundation (NSF) report.

Conditions worsened the following week when additional storms pushed ice, slush, and sea water onto the pier, flooding about one-half of the dock.

The strategy to repair the storm damage included adding additional restraining cables followed by routine flooding to build up the ice thickness.

Operation Deep Freeze officials pressed the pier into extended service in order for the freighter to make an unprecedented two supply runs in one season from Port Lyttelton, New Zealand, to McMurdo.

Winter operations include plowing insulating snow from the dock and flooding the pier with seawater to help sustain the ice strength.

Severe cracks in an ice pier in use for four seasons at McMurdo Station slowed cargo operations in 1983 and proved to be a safety hazard.
Ice piers at McMurdo Station have been used since 1973 to support cargo operations such as shown here in 2006 with the M/V American Tern .
Cargo operations at McMurdo's ice pier in February 1983 involved a race against time before the breakup of the entire dock.