Turning Basin
Port officials deploy one or more icebreakers each summer, depending upon ice conditions, to cut a circular basin just off Winter Quarters Bay. The basin provides an open area for the cargo ships to depart the ice pier, swing north, and proceed into a ship channel through McMurdo Sound. The channel is opened up by icebreakers annually and can range from 8 to 50 nautical miles (93 km) in length.
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Famous quotes containing the word turning:
“Why do we spend years using up our bodies to nurture our minds with experience and find our minds turning then to our exhausted bodies for solace?”
—Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948)