Weather and low clouds stall helicopter operations at Thwaites Glacier expedition

A 10-person team aboard the icebreaker Araon attempting to drill into Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier has been hampered by rapidly changing weather and low clouds that have repeatedly grounded helicopter flights, expedition members reported. The team hopes to bore into the glacier to install instruments and study why it is melting so quickly.

Helicopter trips from the ship to the proposed drilling site take less than 20 minutes, but pilots have turned back when visibility deteriorated. Dominic O’Rourke, one of the expedition’s two helicopter pilots, said, "We do what we can based on what Antarctica allows us to do." The crew described the glacier’s western tongue as a 30-mile jumble of flat-topped icebergs moving out to sea at more than 20 feet a day.

Surveyors used a radar device towed behind a remote-controlled car to test ice stability. That scan confirmed a strip about 650 feet long and 80 to 160 feet wide as safe for work and camping, but low clouds repeatedly prevented helicopters from ferrying gear and personnel. A survey team that briefly landed was brought back to the Araon after 9 p.m.

on Sunday, while a Monday attempt to fly cargo again failed. The scientists decided to keep trying for another week because the ship must return to New Zealand on Feb. 10 and the drilling needs to start soon to finish in time. "We only need two days out of the next eight days, and suddenly the picture could change rapidly," said Peter Davis.

Key Topics

Science, Thwaites Glacier, Araon, Dominic O'rourke, Choon-ki Lee, Remote-controlled Car