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Environment

Russian Arctic Research Station Evacuation in Progress

Print Monday, 07 June 2010 08:21 Written by Joshua Saul, Alaska Dispatch



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In September a crew of Russian scientists set up plywood cottages and diesel generators on the Arctic ice 550 miles north of Barrow. The research station settled into a daily routine of life on the ice, eating meals prepared by the station cook and traversing the frozen landscape on snowmachines, while the scientists conducted ocean-depth soundings, took the seawater's temperature, and launched radio balloons.

Then, in mid-May, the ice floe the station sat on began to shift. A powerful ice stream was moving towards the station, threatening the scientists and their equipment. And so, for only the third time in Russian history, a drifting research station had to be evacuated ahead of schedule.

With their scientists threatened, the Russians launched a 500-foot nuclear-powered icebreaker, the Rossiya, to fight through the ice and bring the crew home. It took the Rossiya and its crew of 50 about ten days to reach the arctic station. During that time the U.S. Coast Guard twice sent planes on the 2,700 round-trip flight to soar over the camp and make sure the station wasn't in danger.

"We were just going up there to make sure everything was okay with their camp," said Petty Officer Charly Hengen.

The planes the Coast Guard sent were HC-130 Hercules, four-engine planes with a wingspan of 133 feet, which flew over the station and checked in via radio. The scientists reported they were well supplied and in no immediate danger.

The Coast Guard flew over the station for the third time last Thursday. At that point the Rossiya was on the scene and the evacuation was in process. The scientists said the evacuation was progressing well.

"As far as we know, they should still be up there with the evacuation process," Hengen said Friday morning.

Normally, Russian research stations in the Arctic are shut down after two or three years of operations. This one was set up on ice six to 12 feet thick, and was traveling between two and four miles every day as the ice drifted east. Russian polar officials said no new drifting stations would be set up in the Arctic in 2010, according to a Russian news site.