Five LC-130 "Skibird" aircraft are due to lift off from an air base near the north-eastern city of Schenectady on Monday for a weeklong trip to the US National Science Foundation's McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
Members of the 109th Airlift Wing are part of the New York Air National Guard which is launching a support mission to Antarctica for the 32nd consecutive year.
The goal is to help deliver supplies and personnel to the area where scientists are specifically involved in studying ice loss in glaciers on the continent.
McMurdo station, Observation Hill via https://t.co/MLWz5G1UHu pic.twitter.com/CJLeAeL3gm
— Views from South Pole (@southpoleviews) October 24, 2019
The 109th Airlift Wing is expected to carry out about 160 such missions, with around 500 airmen due to be deployed before the end of February.
The McMurdo station, established by the US in 1955, is the largest research outpost in Antarctica where at least 900 people, including scientists and support personnel, work during winter.
The station is located on the southern tip of Ross Island in the New Zealand-claimed territory known as the Ross Dependency, which is used as a base for expeditions to the South Pole.
