How Does One Build A Research Station In The South Pole? | Extreme Mission In Antarctica | Spark

[Music] a large vessel loaded with 6958 tons of construction materials and heavy equipment set sail from pyeongtaek harbor at the same time the korean icebreaker aaron also finished his preparations for its departure from busan harbor they headed toward the same destination antarctica [Music] the gateway to antarctica is christchurch new zealand aaron had to refuel before heading toward the antarctic it refueled for a full day and pulled up anchor for another full day of sailing to enter the antarctic ocean [Music] [Music] from christchurch it takes about 10 days to get to terenova bay where the zhang bogo station is located [Music] this is where the antarctic ocean begins sailors used to call this area the roaring sea huge waves hit the 16 meter high bow the ship the roar comes from the thundering noise of the waves hitting the bow [Music] ice starts to form on the windshield vipers when the ship enters the screaming sea which shows what the antarctic ocean is all about when it reaches the latitude of 65 degrees south the ice edge appears showing the true image of antarctica [Music] floating ice over one kilometer long appears in the shape of a huge pancake it can only be seen in the antarctic ocean not in the arctic region the huge ice shelf formed by five glaciers combined and the ice mountains beyond were what constituted the earth during the ice age [Music] it is the coldest the toughest area in the world the temperature during the winter season falls to 70 degrees below zero and over 300 square kilometers of the ocean freezes therefore the area of the antarctic doubles in size [Music] when the dark winter ends with the sunrise of the white knights the power of the ice kingdom declines the ice on the antarctica melts into the ocean and becomes glaciers and the glaciers split into a pile of floating ice a piece of sculpture created by nature the pile of floating ice that moves along the ocean currents occasionally forms a 300 kilometer long ice belt the ice belt becomes a barrier that rocks the way to the south pole the only thing that can pass through the ice belt is an icebreaker the icebreaker aaron leads the way to the ice belt a.m on november 27th an emergency measure to dispatch a russian ice pilot was carried out the ice pilot searched within a radius of 30 to 40 meters but there was no way to pass through the ice belt there was only one solution it was to read photos of the ice and find the thinnest part of it a rigorous schedule with only two hours of sleep a day continue for 10 days the construction team plans to unload construction materials from the end of november it's unusual for the ship to depart in november when the sea around the jiang bogo station is still frozen the team chose such an ambitious plan because it's bound by a sense of duty to work on a national project without delay [Music] based on the design aaron can break up to 1 meter of ice however quite a number of sections are 2.5 meters thick [Music] [Music] an aggressive plan to break through the ice counting on the power of aaron begins aaron makes its way through the icy ocean at an average speed of 22 kilometers per hour pushing out or breaking the ice when aaron picks up speed its bow glides over the ice and the one to two meter thick ice breaks under the weight of the ship after that an ice knife on the bottom of the ship will split the ice into two and push them aside where the ice is thin ship can move a hundred meters small but the distance decreases gradually aaron runs three generators at full capacity and maximizes its engine power but it has reached its limit [Music] what's worse the freight vessel bbc danube can't keep up with the icebreaker even when aaron opened the way the vessel takes the wrong route to the thick ice it needs to stop then aaron will go back and rescue the vessel by breaking the ice into small bits [Applause] this process was repeated 37 times over the four days of working through the night the freight vessel and aaron work together and finally arrive at terra nova bay the coastal waters of the construction site on december 2nd the continent of antarctica looms into sight in the distance they are running behind schedule by about 15 days because of the cautious freight vessel bbc danu the developed countries that recognized the importance of antarctic research for the future survival of the human race made their way into antarctica half a century ago korea was the 33rd newcomer and the 18th country to build a research station in the southern bus continent the king sejong station is constructed on king george island located on the coast of maxwell bay adjacent to china in the early days of the antarctic research the korean team had inadequate technical expertise intense cold and blizzards so the team first went to king georgetown where the conditions are relatively mild however geographical limits of the station gave rise to korea's second antarctic station the strategic importance of the antarctic research grew more and more the king sejong station could neither do research proper to the polar region nor gain international approval [Music] the need to build the second antarctic station was suggested from 1990 but it took 15 years to carry it out [Music] finally in 2007 relying on the australian and russian icebreakers a group of korean scientists made a field investigation the two areas in the east antarctica recommended by various countries they investigated the larsman hills the maasen station of australia and enderby land however the korean scientists had a different opinion the final field investigation of the three sites was made in 2008 they were in the west antarctica region the amundsen sea cape berks and the area where russian's lenin grand skya station used to be there was no foreign station in the west antarctica region so it was suggested that korea should pioneer this area however the leningrad sky area didn't meet the requirements and there was no suitable construction site in the amonsen sea therefore kate burks was the strong prospect but the problem was the thick sea ice that even the wind and icebreakers could not deal with [Music] terra noah bay where the jiang boko station would be constructed was only an alternative having a hard time making a final decision on the construction site the korea polar research institute made an urgent field investigation and then carried out a detailed investigation of kate burks and terra nova bay [Music] the station construction is most affected by bad weather team installed aws equipment and examined the topography and ground stability of the area all stations in antarctica have a difficult time making a supply and transport route through the ice field the research team examined the possibility of constructing a supply and transport route and a runway on the ice [Music] located on the wide flat coast of terra nova bay in northern victoria land the changboko station overlooks terra nova bay surrounded by mount browning in the west and mount melbourne east this site has many advantages [Music] the area around the jungbogo station is composed of a variety of glaciers the trans-antarctica mountains the antarctic ocean and the ecosystem unique to the region it's an ideal location for conducting research on the cryospheric change climate change and ecosystem response [Music] [Music] in the evening two days after aaron arrived at taranova bay [Music] an alarm bell rings in the ship it's a fire alarm when the crew comes up on the deck a come-off helicopter is engulfed in flames it had crashed into the heliport during a landing the crew members put themselves at rest to rescue the passengers the butt swain calls for help with the nine passengers in the helicopter through a two-way radio they immediately jump into action however one person cannot be found the crew can't bring the fire under control the wind blows toward the hangar aaron will burst into flame if the fire spreads to the bottom part of the ship where jet fuel is loaded the entire ship could blow up as the team was already 15 days behind schedule because of the freight vessel bbc danube korean helicopter pilots were trying to help unload cargo from the ship through additional flights [Music] helicopter crashes often occur during the loading and unloading process the history of construction in the polar region was made by such challenges and sacrifices the missing person was later found unconscious some had suffered burns but fortunately there were no major injuries there are no medical facilities station anyone injured needs to be sent to the us mcmurdo station which can perform surgical operations the korean helicopter pilot suffered a serious injury and was taken to the hospital he would never fly again before he left he said i'm sorry please take care of the station the unloading process for the station construction begins after gliding the freight vessel to the brake bulk point aaron starts to make a dock in terra nova bay the ice is about two meters the thick of the ice is enough to unload cargo the ice is neatly cut in order to make it usable for unloading cargo also artificially makes a six to seven meter thick ice dog next step is to transport supplies over the sea ice as the materials and equipment are transported to cars holes or pools are created in the ice cracks around the pools catch the eyes of the workers they step back however the condition of the ice becomes unstable as the unloading process is delayed it's the first time for the construction team of the john bogo station to unload heavy equipment on ice anything can go wrong like the chinese station's billion dollar tractor that sank straight into the ocean the unloading on the ice for two seasons was a success although it was considered a big obstacle at first construction materials including a 100 ton crane and about 500 heavy containers were safely transported to the construction site it was right before christmas the ship can get into terra nova bay for only 65 days a year in the summer thick ice melts to enable aaron to break through [Music] this is the reason the station construction needs to begin the following year [Music] the first phase of the construction proceeded mainly with the foundation work and the steel framework of the building a temporary dog roads and camping facilities were built a blizzard delayed the construction work for 10 days taranova bay is notorious for its bad weather even in antarctica maximum wind speed in taranova bay is 65 kilometers per hour which is one and a half times more than the strongest typhoon to hit korea oh [Music] other countries erected over 200 feral concrete piles of the station in order to stand the strong wind [Music] land is permafrost so they would drill 30 centimeter piles into the ground two meters deep with a diamond drill it was a process that took more than 10 hours but even with the piles the roof could stand the strong wind therefore people from the john vogel station devised a method of construction unique to korea which does not require piles and anchors for all the foundation work [Music] in antarctica where the temperature falls below zero the concrete never goes hard the concrete needs to be left to set for about three months at a minimum of 15 degrees celsius in order to make a solid foundation that has no water leaks in the end the concrete is covered with a heat-retaining packing material [Music] korea's original ice engineering technology was introduced through the second phase of the construction in 2013. key point was the form and technology that can stand the super typhoon like wind [Music] shape of the station is suggestive of a ufo or a stealth aircraft triangular shape is the most effective structure for standing the wind blowing from all directions in order to minimize influences of wind and snowfall the korean team adopted an elevated building structure which is characterized by making enough space between the ground and the building the architect who referred to the wind designs of boomerangs and spacecrafts applied the dimple effect but [Music] [Music] the dimples on the surface reduced wind friction by about 20 percent through vortex flows [Music] no ferro concrete pile was used in order to shorten the period of construction the team used new technology that produced all 120 box-shaped modules beforehand [Music] the station could be completed by connecting the modules as if stacking lego blocks [Music] the key points of ice engineering the construction technology appropriate for extremely cold regions are lightweight materials minimal labor speed and having a minimal impact on antarctica a common heritage for humankind in order to enter antarctica the construction team has to dust off even the sand of their shoes also have to take their urine and feces back to the ship [Music] the generator room the heart of the jungle station utilizes three co-generation facilities waste heat is 100 recycled eco-friendly energy such as sunlight and wind power is also utilized the 170 solar panels are installed on the outer walls of the generator room there are small wind turbines all these prevent collisions the south port skewers and also supply eco-friendly energy [Music] they are operated together to reduce the use of fossil fuel and carbon dioxide emission the jiangboko station consists of about 10 buildings including space weather observation facility terrestrial magnetism observation facility power plant and emergency shelter the most important place is the four-story 15-meter hawaii main building [Music] the chang bogo station is closer to the geographic south pole compared to the king seijong station so white nights continue for a hundred days and pitch dark nights for 95 days the team lives in the chiang jiangbogo station in complete isolation for nine months in the winter season being unable to go [Music] outside [Music] [Music] almost a month has passed since the construction team arrived in antarctica it's an isolated region the station looks almost like a concentration camp the main building is the most important place because it's the living space for the researchers the main building is divided into a living facility and a research facility former consists of bedrooms a clinic a dining room and a gym [Music] research facility consists of numerous laboratories including a bioscience lab a geosciences and meteorite lab and a geophysics lab because the freight vessel arrived late construction work was delayed by about 15 days korea's construction technology in the polar regions is still in its infancy harvard station showed an unprecedented technological development in the history of antarctic station construction [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] the snow and the wind died down the jungle station inauguration ceremony held on february 12. nice to meet you [Music] it looked like a ufo that had made an emergency landing in the ice field a medium to large-sized station one of the most beautiful stations in the antarctic continent was complete it's been 30 years since korea first made its way into the polar region [Music] we obtained an icebreaker in 2009 and completed the construction of a station in antarctica in 2014. korea the 33rd country to enter antarctica became the 10th country to have stations in both polar regions [Music] with the completion of the jiangbogo station two-thirds of korea's comprehensive project for boulder exploration has been completed the ultimate goal is to develop the korean route to the ice field and the geographic south pole [Music] instead of amundsen and scott korean scientists will write the history of the antarctic [Music] exploration after finishing the inauguration ceremony the construction team hurried its evacuation [Music] winter has begun for the first 17 researchers in zhang bogal korea's second station in antarctica [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Spark

Views: 58,121

Rating: 4.7410073 out of 5

Keywords: free documentary, documentaries, full documentary, hd documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), antartica, antarctica, climate, climate documentary, climate change, travel antarctica, antarctica climate change, south pole, south pole travel, south pole documentary, antarctic station, antarctica station tour, antarctic, fyodorov, ice breaker, marine scientists, marine documentary, engineering documentary, construction documentary, south pole station

Id: qI93dlC8fCE

Length: 43min 37sec (2617 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 16 2021