[NASA] Cracking Antarctic Sea Ice

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Earth Observatory

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3. Cracking Antarctic Sea Ice

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January 19

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NASA Earth Observatory

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January 19

January 20

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Image Details

‘Tis the season for long and ruler-straight cracks in

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sea ice. Though natural breaks in sea ice are called

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, the better term for the human-made fracture seen in these satellite images is a ship channel.

In the austral summer, usually in January, an icebreaker rams a path through the

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—a type of

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that is anchored to the shore—that often covers McMurdo Sound. This annual effort allows cargo ships to reach

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, a research base operated by the

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The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter

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completed the task in

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, arriving after breaking a path through several miles of ice between the Ross Sea and an

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at McMurdo. Most of the channel was cut between January 19 and 20.  

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January 2 – January 27, 2026

The animation above, made of images captured by the

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(Operational Land Imager) on

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and

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, offers satellite views of the icebreaker’s work. Images were captured on January 2, 7, 19, 20, 23, 25, and 27. The nearly 120-meter (400-foot) vessel weighs 13,500 tons and has thick steel-plated hulls. With 75,000 shaft horsepower, it’s the world’s most powerful non-nuclear icebreaker.

The ship sometimes conducts search-and-rescue missions as well. On January 17, the day marking its 50th year of service, the Polar Star

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from an *********** cruise ship in the Ross Sea hampered by thick,

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—a type of sea ice unattached to the shoreline that drifts. After making

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to break up the ice and clear a path, the Polar Star escorted the cruise ship 4 nautical miles (7 kilometers) to open water in the Ross Sea, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

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Established in 1955, McMurdo Station is the southernmost point on Earth accessible by ship. With a population that swells to 1,200 in the summer, it is the largest research station in Antarctica, hosting a harbor, two airfields, and a helicopter pad. Though once powered by a portable nuclear reactor known as “

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,” the base now runs on energy from diesel electric generators and a wind farm on

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.

With the ship passage open, McMurdo Station is slated to receive two large deliveries this summer. The

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, a tanker, arrived on

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with 5 million gallons of diesel fuel.

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, a cargo ship, will arrive later with food, supplies, and parts of a

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that will replace the traditional ice pier that military engineers

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each winter to give ships somewhere to unload cargo.

The U.S. National Science Foundation manages McMurdo Station and much of the science conducted there. NASA has also been involved in several projects at the base over the years. For instance, NASA’s McMurdo Ground Station, a

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facility, is used to download data from polar-orbiting satellites such as

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and

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. The agency also flew its

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airborne campaign

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in 2013 and regularly

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from the station as part of its scientific ballooning program.

The Polar Star typically remains at McMurdo through March to keep the ship passage clear and returns to its home port of Seattle in April.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the 

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. Story by Adam Voiland.

Downloads

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January 2, 2026

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January 7, 2026

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References & Resources

• Atlas Obscura (2024, March 20)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.
• Cruise Industry News (2026, January 24)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.
• Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (2026, January 30)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.
• Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (2026, January 21)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.
• Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (2026, January 21)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.
• Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (2026, January 7)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.
• The Maritime Executive (2026, January 15)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2025)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.
• U.S. Antarctic Program (2025, April 29)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.
• U.S. Coast Guard (2026, January 23)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.
• U.S. Department of War Navy (2026, January 6)
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  .
• The Washington Post (2026, January 27)
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  . Accessed February 2, 2026.

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