Icberg B15A has stalled about 7 miles from the Drygalski Ice-Tongue. A widely forwarded email from a prominent glaciologist indicated that the tidal waves caused by the earthquake earlier this week “have a vibration frequency that matches the bobbing and rolling frequency of the iceberg.” I’m neither a glaciologist nor a seismologist, but can it be that it took a tsunami to slow the charge of B15A?

Whatever the reason, those who are anticipating the catastrophic collision of two great bodies of ice will have to wait just a bit longer. In the meantime, the US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star has been chewing away at the sea ice for two days. A second icebreaker, on loan from Russia, is due in the next week or so to assist in clearing the channel. How did the US Antarctic Program secure the resources of a Russian icebreaker in the southern hemisphere during the dead of the Russian winter?

There is a Russian AN-3 parked on the US airfield at the South Pole. It’s been there for several years, awaiting arrangements to perform necessary repairs after an emergency landing. This week an NSF Representative sent an email to all station personnel asking that we extend a welcome to a team of Russians who arrived yesterday to “repatriate the AN-3 that flew to the South Pole.” Coincidence?

Now this from the ship’s log of the Polar Star, posted this morning at 7:16a New Zealand time:

ICE THICKNESS: 7-8FT, FIRST AND SECOND YEAR FAST ICE.
INCREASING IN THICKNESS AS WE GET CLOSER TO MCMURDO STATION.
BACKING AND RAMMING REQUIRED.

PATROL EFFORTS:
COMPLETED 46.3NM OF INITIAL BREAK-IN OF MCMURDO CHANNEL TODAY,
73.7NM TOTAL. 7.3NM REMAIN ON OUR INITIAL TRACKLINE TO MCMURDO
STATION.

INTENTIONS:
CONTINUE BREAK-IN OF MCMURDO CHANNEL.
CO COMMENTS: EXCELLENT PROGRESS MADE ON OUR INITIAL TRACKLINE
INTO MCMURDO STATION!

I learned from our geographer that the horizon for a person of average height on a perfectly flat surface is seven miles. Sea ice is about as close as you will get to a perfectly flat surface on the planet. The ice breaker is 7.3 nautical miles from town.

I just heard from Mark over in the JSOC Building. From the second floor, his horizon is more than seven miles, and he has visual contact with the Polar Star as it backs and rams its way into the channel. They plan to make it in to port tonight to refuel and continue breaking ice. Our plan is to break some ice of our own and hike over to Hut Point with some cocktails this evening to celebrate the arrival of a US Coast Gaurd icebreaker. Cheers!