Aeronautical & General Instruments (AGI) has recently supplied the largest polar expedition in history with portable runway lighting to enable emergency supplies to be provided to research vessel Polarstern whilst it drifts in ice for the next year, gathering data on global climate change.
The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) project is the first expedition to drift through the Arctic all year round and is spearheaded by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). The Polarstern set sail last month and now having reached its destination is wedged into the Arctic ice, following the natural drift to measure the features of the climate throughout the next year. A flight campaign is planned for spring 2020, when a landing strip will be carved out of the sea ice.
Through its German representative, Wärtsilä JOVYATLAS EUROATLAS GmbH, AGI has provided its COREL LED Omni-directional Runway Edge Light and RTEL LED Runway Threshold End Light in a unqiue setup of enabling helicopters to land on deck with the added ability to easily move the lights onto the ice to make an emergency runway. The lighting will assist helicopters and aeroplanes to land and deliver supplies to the global research crew when other vessels are no longer able to penetrate the ice. The lights are fully portable, lightweight, battery powered with a long run time and are constructed to endure all weather environments. A comprehensive training programme was also delivered for the expedition participants at Wärtsilä’s premises in Bremen, in order to operate and maintain the lighting system during the 13 month expedition.
David Hyde, AGI Managing Director said: “we are excited to support Polarstern on its year long journey. With climate change being extremely topical, AGI is proud of its involvement in this historic event where our reliable, low cost lighting solutions help mission critical landings to take place with minimal effort”.
Patrick Appel, Sales Engineer Wärtsilä JOVYATLAS EUROATLAS GmbH said: “AWI has been internationally recognised for polar and marine research for decades and a connection with the Institute began many years ago when we supplied an AGI Precision Approach Pathway Indicator system to German Antarctic Research Station Neumayer-Station III. This then lead to the proposed airfield lighting configuration for the MOSAiC project and we are happy to have secured the order”.
Image supplied is under creative commons licence copyright: Alfred-Wegener-Institut / Mario Hoppmann