Originally Posted by
dr dre
As stated in the article there’s only 20 people there in winter ...
What The Guardian fails to mention is that Davis is set up to accommodate 120-odd scientists, researchers and support staff. They have to pare those numbers back to a skeleton maintenance staff of just 20 in winter because of the lack of decent medevac capabilities and re-supply constraints.
Originally Posted by
dr dre
... and resupply issues haven’t been a problem since the program was started in the 50’s, so why now?
As stated in the article the ice runway at Wilkins (a BNE-CNS sort of trip from Davis with nothing much by way of en route alternates) is becoming less usable due to increasing surface instability.
What the article doesn't state is that the Australian Antarctic Division isn't just looking to build the runway for the hell of it. They are looking to completely upgrade Davis such that it can be used for science all year round. If you've seen any pictures of Davis in its current state it looks a bit like a small town's light industrial district with none of the usual rural charm. The base currently consists of a rag-tag collection of some 20-odd different structures of various vintages. The development project will replace those with 9 structures (6 habitat/science structures and three maintenance/utilities/storage buildings) that will allow up to 150 personnel to work in relative comfort and safety all year round.