Australia’s newest icebreaker has risen to the challenges of its first Antarctic voyage, notching up an impressive list of first achievements.
Minister for the Environment, Sussan Ley welcomed the Australian Antarctic Division’s (AAD) RSV Nuyina back to its home port of Hobart, Tasmania last Sunday (30 January) with a list of scientific achievements under its scuttlebutt.
“On its maiden Antarctic voyage, the scientific capability of this ship turned a 39-day commissioning and resupply mission into a voyage of international discovery,” Ms Ley said.
“The Nuyina is allowing our Antarctic scientists to do things they simply haven’t had the capacity to do before,” she said.
Voyage Leader at AAD, Lloyd Symons said that, during the 39-day voyage, AAD personnel conducted a range of tests on many of the ship’s scientific systems to set up the vessel for its next 30 years of operation.
Mr Symons said the voyage also tested the ship’s ability to meet Antarctic and resupply challenges while it encountered the first of many icebergs; broke its first fast ice; visited its first glacier; refuelled its first station and supported its first helicopter operations.
“Our main priority was to deliver almost one million litres of fuel to Casey research station, to enable the station to continue its important work for another year,” he said.
“With teams working in shifts from Nuyina, the resupply ship Happy Dragon and the station, we delivered the fuel in less than 36 hours.
“We also successfully delivered two helicopters and their crew to Davis research station and conducted a range of marine science commissioning tasks, including deployments of scientific equipment off the trawl deck and through the moon pool.”
Mr Symons said a few of the other big ‘firsts’ for the ship included the discovery of an underwater canyon at least 55km long and 2,200 metres deep; catching the first Antarctic krill in Nuyina’s unique ‘wet well’; and the deployment of an oceanographic instrument through the ship’s moon pool.
