Antarctic runway too warm to reopen

WARMER than usual weather has delayed the seasonal reopening of Australia’s ice runway in Antarctica, leaving workers and researchers stranded.

The runway, at Wilkins Aerodrome, located on a glacier about 70km inland from Casey Research Station, is closed during the height of summer. It usually returns to operation in early February and was this year scheduled to begin taking flights on the 5th.

But it has yet to reopen, with the ice temperature not dropping below minus 5C, the level required for planes to land, the Australian Antarctic Division says. Operations Manager Robb Clifton said it was the first time the runway had not reopened in the first week of February.

“Obviously it is a concern for us. All nations who operate ice or snow runways are encountering similar problems,” he said. “If we keep getting warmer temperatures then we might have to change our operating paradigm.

“But I should say this is a one-year anomaly at the moment, so we’d need to see a trend before drawing any real conclusions.” Mr Clifton said about 20-30 workers and researchers had been impacted by the flight delays.

One Airbus A319 flight has been cancelled and two others have been postponed.

Mr Clifton said flights would likely resume on Sunday, when the weather was forecast to be cold enough.

Record high temperatures have been recorded in Antarctica this summer, including 18.3C at an Argentinian research base on the peninsula nearest to South America.