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The RAAF delivered additional vehicles to Australia’s Antarctic Division ahead of Operation Southern Discovery.
The Royal Australian Air Force completed another delivery of vehicles last month to Australia’s Antarctic Division ahead of Operation Southern Discovery.
The vehicles, which include a Challenger snow tractor and Pathfinder snow groomers, were carried aboard the C-17A Globemaster III on separate missions from Hobart International Airport.
The mission was supported by the RAAF Combat Support Group in Hobart and capabilities from Antarctica’s Casey Station, including a Navy meteorologist attached at Casey.
Operation Southern Discovery will provide researchers with critical data on the world’s climate, and will require a 1,200-kilometre journey to acquire ice core samples. The vehicles will assist in building a portable inland station for the operation.
Wing Commander Dion Wright, Commander of the Australian Contingent for Operation Southern Discovery, said, “Support from Defence has provided AAD with an overland traverse capability, enabling the premier science project in Antarctica, the retrieval of the million-year ice core.
“This has been accomplished across complex and challenging seasons, which have been affected also by COVID-19 restrictions
“The feedback from the million-year ice core project team is that it could not envisage the overland traverse vehicles being delivered with the challenges they’ve faced.”
Anthony Hull, who oversees the Australian Antarctic Division’s Traverse Project, noted, “The speed at which this procession will travel is approximately 10 kilometres an hour.
“To do this for approximately 1,200 kilometres, you’re looking at about 12 to 14 days of solid travel.”
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