Winds too weak for Snow Dragon’s breakout attempt
Print Edition
The Chinese research vessel and icebreaker Snow Dragon, stranded in Antarctic ice, warmed up its engines and tried to broaden an “ice-breaking runway” yesterday, preparing for a possible westerly wind favorable for breaking out.
However, interrupted by an unfavorable southeast wind and a decreasing tide, the broadening only lasted for 40 or 50 meters.
The icebreaker became trapped in thick sea ice last Friday, just a day after its helicopter evacuated all 52 passengers from the stranded Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy to the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis.
Weather reports forecast the prevailing southeast wind would gradually turn into a northerly wind yesterday and become a class 3 or 4 westerly wind at night.
Though a little weak, the westerly wind had been expected to provide favorable weather conditions for the vessel to escape from the ice and another attempt will be made later.
But it is uncertain whether the westerly wind will be strong enough to push away the drifting floes currently surrounding the ship, especially on its starboard. The floes there are 3 or 4 meters thick — three times thicker than the vessel’s maximum ice-breaking capability.
Second, no one can be certain how the wind will influence the iceberg in front of the ship, which is sometimes as close as 2.22 kilometers from the vessel.
Third, it is hard to tell how the high-pressure weather system brought by the westerly wind will affect the sea area in which the icebreaker has been trapped.
In order to ensure that the vessel does not become fully frozen into the ice, the iceboat created a kilometer-long “ice-breaking runway” by sailing back and forth, while waiting for favorable weather conditions to break through.
Wang Jianzhong, the ship’s captain, said it has been surrounded by swiftly-amassed floes due to lasting strong winds in the past few days, with the thickest ice layer reaching 3 to 4 meters. The area in which the ship is trapped has rapidly drifting icebergs and floes, and is some 21 kilometers away from the nearest ice-free waters.
“It is difficult for the vessel to break the ice in such an area with one iceberg ahead and another moving closer slowly from behind,” Wang said.
The Snow Dragon could get out of trouble as long as it can break through the thickest floe zone some 3.7 kilometers long, Wang said, but it is important for the icebreaker to find an opportunity. The vessel currently has food supplies to last until April and fresh water supplies for a month.
The Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy became trapped on Christmas Eve, and the Snow Dragon’s onboard helicopter rescued the stranded passengers last Thursday, before its own movement was blocked by a kilometer-long iceberg drifting northwest.
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