Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 09:31
Forums
Greenland Atmospheric Studies

Craig.


I was wondering what the inner tube was dangling
out in front of the tucker.


  Bob

Fri, 06/27/2008 - 09:44

Craig Beals

Thanks for the question Bob,
 
I have posted a picture below to reference the "inner tube" you are asking about.
 

 
The first 60 miles out of Thule, Greenland is the area of the ice edge where the large crevasses are cutting through the ice.  Many of these crevasses get covered by blowing snow and are not visible on the surface.
The long boom on the front of the tucker has a RADAR sensor that helps detect the large gaps in the ice sheet that could swallow a vehicle if it drove over it.  The inner tube slides along the ice in front of the vehicle to keep the RADAR up off the surface.
The team can only move at about 3 miles per hour in this crevasse area because if the radar goes off they have to be able to get stopped before they fall in.
They only had one mishap with crevasses on their long journey.  The CASE tractor, which is much heavier than the Tucker, fell into a crack that the radar didn't pick up on.  The blade on the front of the CASE caught the other side of the crack and kept the machine from falling in too far.  After much labor they were able to free the tractor to continue their trip up here toward us.
 

 
Thanks Bob...and Stay Warm!!