NSF Charters Vladimir Ignatyuk to Support U.S. Research Stations in Antarctica

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on July 3 that it will exercise an option for chartering the diesel icebreaker Vladimir Ignatyuk from Russia’s Murmansk Shipping Company. The Ignatyuk will again create a channel through the sea ice of Antarctica’s McMurdo Sound needed to resupply and refuel U.S. research stations during the upcoming 2012 to 2013 [...]