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.
Read more about this topic: Winter Quarters Bay
Famous quotes containing the word turning:
“‘A parted ev’n just between twelve and one, ev’n at the
turning o’ the tide; for after I saw him fumble with the
sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his finger’s
end, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as
pen, and ‘a babbled of green fields.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)