Troll airfield
Encyclopedia
Troll Airfield is an airstrip located 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi) from the research station Troll
in Princess Martha Coast
in Queen Maud Land
, Antarctica. Owned and operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute
, it consists of a 3300 by runway on glacial blue ice
on the Antarctic ice sheet
. The airport is located at 1232 metres (4,042 ft) above mean sea level
and is 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast.
The airfield opened in 2005 and serves as the centre of the Dronning Maud Land Air Network (DROMLAN), a multinational cooperation to use Troll as an all-year hub
to provide intercontinental traffic to Antarctica and onwards to the various research stations using smaller aircraft. Intercontinental flights normally operate from Cape Town International Airport
using Ilyushin 76, C-130 Hercules
, P-3 Orion
and similar, long-range aircraft. Feeding services to other research station is normally done with Basler BT-67
aircraft and helicopters.
on glacial blue ice. This allows it to take down any aircraft serving the Antarctic. There is no instrument landing system (ILS), instead visual flight rules
apply. There are no buildings or structures at the runway, although some services are provided from the research station. Ground handling, including supply of Jet A-1 fuel, is provided by the crew at Troll. The crew also supply services such as a fire and rescue service, communications and overnighting at Troll for personnel who would be stuck because of bad weather. The airfield must follow the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty
. This includes storing all fuel in barrels and large tanks placed on special mats which absorb liquids, to avoid spills. There is also equipment and plans to handle spills, should they occur. All waste is transported out of the Antarctic.
The airfield has a cold and dry climate, being located in a desert
. The annual mean temperature is -25 C, with the summer temperature able to reach about 0 °C (32 °F) and the lowest during the winter at -50 C. Storms, which can occur throughout the year, can occasionally make outdoor activity impossible. Because it is located south of the Antarctic Circle
, Troll has midnight sun
in the summer and polar night
during the winter.
Feeder services to other research stations are operated by two Basler BT-67, operated by the South African company Antarctic Logistics Centre International. Services are operated to Aboa
(Finnish), Dome F
(Japanese), Halley
(British), Kohnen (German), Maitri
(Indian), Neumayer
(German), Novolazarevskaya
(Russian), Princess Elisabeth
(Belgian), SANAE IV
(South African), Showa (Japanese), Tor
(Norwegian) and Wasa (Swedish). In the 2007–08 season, 720 people were transported to Antarctica via DROMLAN. The airport is not open for commercial or other private flights.
for the research station and at the same time was close to blue ice for the runway. At the time, all cargo and passengers to Troll had to either be transported by ship, or flown in via the airport at the Russian base Novolazarevskaya or Henriksenskjera.
In the late 1990s, the Norwegian Polar Institute took an initiative to establish DROMLAN in cooperation with eleven other countries who operate research facilities in Queen Maud Land. On 5 January 2001, a test flight with representatives from eight countries was made to Henriksenskjera. From there, a Twin Otter, Basler BT-67 and a helicopter was used to distribute the crew and supplies to the various bases. In addition to evaluating the airfield at Novolazarevskaya, an evaluation was performed at Troll in January 2002. The hub model was used during the summer of 2001 and 2002, operated by the South African company Antarctic Logistics Centre International.
To build a permanent airfield at Troll, the Norwegian Polar Institute bought a snow groomer
and a tracked vehicle
with a snow blower
, flatbed and ice cutter. The works was organized with a land-based Global Positioning System
laser system. In the course of the 2002 season, 2500 metres (8,202.1 ft) of runway had been built. This included removing of surface rocks and filling any crevasse
s. The construction also included necessary ground facilities, such as a fire- and rescue service, communications, ground handling and overnighting at Troll for personnel who would be stuck because of bad weather. The construction involved to moving of 70000 cubic metres (2,472,026.6 cu ft) of ice and snow.
Troll Airfield was opened on 11 February 2005 by Queen Sonja of Norway
and the new research station the following day. At first, Antonov An-2
, Twin Otters, Dorniers and similar smaller aircraft were used for the services. Later, two Basler BT-67, operated by Antarctic Logistics Centre International, were taken into use. The cooperation has resulted in larger aircraft that are more suited for research, and a coordinated search and rescue
operation between the participating countries. On 19 January 2008, the airfield was visited by Norwegian Prime Minister
Jens Stoltenberg
.
Troll (research station)
Troll is a research station located at Jutulsessen, from the coast in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. It is Norway's only all-year research station in Antarctica, and is supplemented by the summer-only station Tor...
in Princess Martha Coast
Princess Martha Coast
Princess Martha Coast is that portion of the coast of Queen Maud Land lying between 05° E and the terminus of Stancomb-Wills Glacier, at 20° W. The entire coastline is bounded by ice shelves with ice cliffs 20 to 35 m high....
in Queen Maud Land
Queen Maud Land
Queen Maud Land is a c. 2.7 million-square-kilometre region of Antarctica claimed as a dependent territory by Norway. The territory lies between 20° west and 45° east, between the British Antarctic Territory to the west and the Australian Antarctic Territory to the east. The latitudinal...
, Antarctica. Owned and operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute
Norwegian Polar Institute
The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's national institution for polar research. It is run under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. The institute organizes expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions and runs a research station at Ny-Ålesund...
, it consists of a 3300 by runway on glacial blue ice
Blue ice (glacial)
Blue ice occurs when snow falls on a glacier, is compressed, and becomes part of a glacier that winds its way toward a body of water . During its travels, air bubbles that are trapped in the ice are squeezed out, and the size of the ice crystals increases, making it clear...
on the Antarctic ice sheet
Antarctic ice sheet
The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the two polar ice caps of the Earth. It covers about 98% of the Antarctic continent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth. It covers an area of almost 14 million square km and contains 30 million cubic km of ice...
. The airport is located at 1232 metres (4,042 ft) above mean sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
and is 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast.
The airfield opened in 2005 and serves as the centre of the Dronning Maud Land Air Network (DROMLAN), a multinational cooperation to use Troll as an all-year hub
Airline hub
An airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. It is part of a hub and spoke model, where travelers moving between airports not served by direct flights change planes en route to their destinations...
to provide intercontinental traffic to Antarctica and onwards to the various research stations using smaller aircraft. Intercontinental flights normally operate from Cape Town International Airport
Cape Town International Airport
Cape Town International Airport is the primary airport serving the city of Cape Town, and is the second busiest airport in South Africa and third busiest in Africa. Located approximately from the city centre, the airport was opened in 1954 to replace Cape Town's previous airport in the suburb of...
using Ilyushin 76, C-130 Hercules
C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...
, P-3 Orion
P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. The aircraft is easily recognizable by its distinctive tail stinger or...
and similar, long-range aircraft. Feeding services to other research station is normally done with Basler BT-67
Basler BT-67
-See also:-External links:* * * * *...
aircraft and helicopters.
Facilities
Troll Airfield is located 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi) from Troll in Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. It is owned and operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute and consists of a 3300 by runwayRunway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
on glacial blue ice. This allows it to take down any aircraft serving the Antarctic. There is no instrument landing system (ILS), instead visual flight rules
Visual flight rules
Visual flight rules are a set of regulations which allow a pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better than basic VFR weather minimums, as specified in the rules of the...
apply. There are no buildings or structures at the runway, although some services are provided from the research station. Ground handling, including supply of Jet A-1 fuel, is provided by the crew at Troll. The crew also supply services such as a fire and rescue service, communications and overnighting at Troll for personnel who would be stuck because of bad weather. The airfield must follow the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty
The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, also known as the Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, or the Madrid Protocol, is part of the Antarctic Treaty System...
. This includes storing all fuel in barrels and large tanks placed on special mats which absorb liquids, to avoid spills. There is also equipment and plans to handle spills, should they occur. All waste is transported out of the Antarctic.
The airfield has a cold and dry climate, being located in a desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
. The annual mean temperature is -25 C, with the summer temperature able to reach about 0 °C (32 °F) and the lowest during the winter at -50 C. Storms, which can occur throughout the year, can occasionally make outdoor activity impossible. Because it is located south of the Antarctic Circle
Antarctic Circle
The Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs south of the Equator.-Description:...
, Troll has midnight sun
Midnight sun
The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in summer months at latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the north of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather, the sun is visible for a continuous...
in the summer and polar night
Polar night
The polar night occurs when the night lasts for more than 24 hours. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnight sun, occurs when the sun stays above the horizon for more than 24 hours.-Description:...
during the winter.
Service
Dronning Maud Land Air Network Project (DROMLAN) is a coordinated project between eleven countries with bases in Queen Maud Land to create an coordinated logistics service to reduce costs. The participating countries are Belgium, Finland, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Sweden and United Kingdom. The services are operated using Russian Ilyushin 76, Norwegian and Swedish C-130 Hercules and Norwegian P-3 Orion aircraft. The flights operate from Cape Town International Airport, with a flight time of up to nine hours for a Hercules aircraft, and five and a half hours for an Il-76.Kyvik et.al (2008): 167Feeder services to other research stations are operated by two Basler BT-67, operated by the South African company Antarctic Logistics Centre International. Services are operated to Aboa
Aboa (research station)
Aboa is a Finnish research station in Antarctica. It was built in 1988. It is located in Queen Maud Land, about 130 kilometers from the coast, on a nunatak called Basen in the Vestfjella Mountains...
(Finnish), Dome F
Dome F
Dome F, also known as Dome Fuji , Valkyrie Dome, or Valkyrjedomen, is located in east Queen Maud Land at . With an altitude of 3,810 m or 12,500 ft above sea level, it is the second-highest summit or ice dome of the East Antarctic ice sheet and represents an ice divide...
(Japanese), Halley
Halley Research Station
Halley Research Station, run by the British Antarctic Survey, is located on the Brunt Ice Shelf floating on the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. It is a British research facility dedicated to the study of the Earth's atmosphere...
(British), Kohnen (German), Maitri
Maitri
Maitri is India's second permanent research station in Antarctica. It was built and finished in 1989, shortly before the first station Dakshin Gangotri was buried in ice and abandoned in 1990-91...
(Indian), Neumayer
Neumayer-Station III
Neumayer-Station III, also known as Neumayer III after geophysicist Georg von Neumayer, is a German South pole research station of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut in the Antarctic. It is located on the approximately 200-metre thick Ekstrom Ice Shelf several kilometres south of Neumayer-Station II. The...
(German), Novolazarevskaya
Novolazarevskaya Station
Novolazarevskaya Station is a Russian, formerly Soviet, Antarctic research station. The station is located at Schirmacher Oasis, Queen Maud Land, 75 km from the Antarctic coast, from which it is separated by Lazarev Ice Shelf. It was opened on January 18, 1961 by the 6th Soviet Antarctic...
(Russian), Princess Elisabeth
Princess Elisabeth Base
Princess Elisabeth Base, located on Utsteinen Nunatak in Dronning Maud Land is a Belgian polar station, taken into use on February 15, 2009. The station is the first polar base that combines eco-friendly construction materials, clean and efficient energy use, optimization of the station's energy...
(Belgian), SANAE IV
SANAE IV
SANAE IV is the current research base of the South African National Antarctic Expedition and is part of the South African National Antarctic Program...
(South African), Showa (Japanese), Tor
Tor (research station)
Tor research station is a Norwegian Antarctic research station in Queen Maud Land, in the easternmost part of Princess Martha Coast at Svarthamaren Mountain, established in 1993. It is located 1625 metres above sea level, about 200 km from the coast. It is smaller than the other Norwegian...
(Norwegian) and Wasa (Swedish). In the 2007–08 season, 720 people were transported to Antarctica via DROMLAN. The airport is not open for commercial or other private flights.
History
During the planning of Troll, which opened in 1990, it was decided that the station was to be placed at such a location as to allow it to have an air strip for year-round operations. Jutulsessen was chosen as the location, in part because it provided a bare nunatakNunatak
A nunatak is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier. The term is typically used in areas where a permanent ice sheet is present...
for the research station and at the same time was close to blue ice for the runway. At the time, all cargo and passengers to Troll had to either be transported by ship, or flown in via the airport at the Russian base Novolazarevskaya or Henriksenskjera.
In the late 1990s, the Norwegian Polar Institute took an initiative to establish DROMLAN in cooperation with eleven other countries who operate research facilities in Queen Maud Land. On 5 January 2001, a test flight with representatives from eight countries was made to Henriksenskjera. From there, a Twin Otter, Basler BT-67 and a helicopter was used to distribute the crew and supplies to the various bases. In addition to evaluating the airfield at Novolazarevskaya, an evaluation was performed at Troll in January 2002. The hub model was used during the summer of 2001 and 2002, operated by the South African company Antarctic Logistics Centre International.
To build a permanent airfield at Troll, the Norwegian Polar Institute bought a snow groomer
Snow groomer
Snow grooming is the process to manipulate snow for recreational uses, usually using a snow groomer vehicle. This can be a tractor, truck or snowcat towing specialized equipment to move and manipulate snow...
and a tracked vehicle
Tracked vehicle
A tracked vehicle is a vehicle that runs on continuous tracks instead of wheels...
with a snow blower
Snow blower
A snow blower or snow thrower is a machine for removing snow from an area where it is not wanted, such as a driveway, sidewalk, roadway, railroad track, rink, runway, or houses...
, flatbed and ice cutter. The works was organized with a land-based Global Positioning System
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
laser system. In the course of the 2002 season, 2500 metres (8,202.1 ft) of runway had been built. This included removing of surface rocks and filling any crevasse
Crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
s. The construction also included necessary ground facilities, such as a fire- and rescue service, communications, ground handling and overnighting at Troll for personnel who would be stuck because of bad weather. The construction involved to moving of 70000 cubic metres (2,472,026.6 cu ft) of ice and snow.
Troll Airfield was opened on 11 February 2005 by Queen Sonja of Norway
Queen Sonja of Norway
Queen Sonja of Norway is the wife of King Harald V of Norway.-Prior to marriage:Sonja was born in Oslo on 4 July 1937 as the daughter of clothing merchant Karl August Haraldsen and Dagny Ulrichsen .Queen Sonja grew up in the district of Vinderen in Oslo and completed her lower secondary schooling...
and the new research station the following day. At first, Antonov An-2
Antonov An-2
The Antonov An-2 is a single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed in the USSR in 1946...
, Twin Otters, Dorniers and similar smaller aircraft were used for the services. Later, two Basler BT-67, operated by Antarctic Logistics Centre International, were taken into use. The cooperation has resulted in larger aircraft that are more suited for research, and a coordinated search and rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
operation between the participating countries. On 19 January 2008, the airfield was visited by Norwegian Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Norway
The Prime Minister of Norway is the political leader of Norway and the Head of His Majesty's Government. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Stortinget , to their political party, and ultimately the...
Jens Stoltenberg
Jens Stoltenberg
is a Norwegian politician, leader of the Norwegian Labour Party and the current Prime Minister of Norway. Having assumed office on 17 October 2005, Stoltenberg previously served as Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001....
.