Download Excavator Rothera

13 tonne Excavator
Rothera Station, Antarctica
UKSBS/NERC/BAS/002-2014
Overview of Requirement
Rothera Research Station
Position: 67° 34’ S, 68 ° 08’ W, Rothera Point, Adelaide Island.
Adelaide Island lies approximately 1860km south of the Falkland Islands and 1630km south
east of Punta Arenas in Chile. The island is 140km long and heavily glaciated with
mountains of up to 2565m height. The station is built on a promontory of rock at the southern
extremity of the Wormald Ice Piedmont.
The station is open throughout the year, in the summer the population will peak at just over
100 people. In the winter months, April to mid October, a compliment of around 22 will be
continuing the science work and looking after the station infrastructure.
The work disciplines represented on the station include marine & terrestrial biologists,
meteorologists, electronics engineers, dive officer, boating officer, chef, doctor, vehicle and
generator mechanics, electricians, plumbers, builders, field assistants, communications
managers and of course a station management team.
Science
Marine biology, terrestrial biology, geology, glaciology, meteorology and upper atmospherics
research is undertaken at Rothera.
Logistics
Rothera is the principal BAS logistics centre for support of Antarctic field science. There is a
900m long crushed rock runway allowing an air link with South America and the Falkland
Islands, the Biscoe Wharf provides safe mooring for ships.
Vehicles
There are various off-the-shelf and specialized vehicles at Rothera comprising a mix of
wheeled and tracked vehicles to deal with the ever changing summer conditions as the snow
recedes leaving bare rock around the base location.
All the heavy plant vehicles are powered by diesel engines which require special pre-heating
before they are started in low temperatures, and they also use alternative fuels such as JET
A1 aviation fuel to stop the waxing of regular diesel fuels.
All the vehicles are fitted with fully automatic or semi-automatic transmissions to ensure they
are simple to operate and be less prone to damage.
Requirement
BAS requires an excavator to perform critical digging and snow grooming tasks around the
station to prevent it being overwhelmed by snow accumulation.
The site of the station is subject to heavy snow deposition and the services of an excavator
are required to keep the station buildings clear.