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English: This year the Polar Star had about 10 miles of first-year ice and six miles of second-year ice to break through, according to Lt. Emily Motz.

“That was pretty similar to what the ice conditions were like last year (2017), but the year prior (2016) to that they had about 70 miles to get through,” she added.

The ice conditions vary from year-to-year, so scientists at the NIC are involved in the mission planning stage of Operation Deep Freeze, which usually begins in late November or early December. At the beginning of December, Motz added that the NIC sends a Ross Sea Outlook which gives the crew a sense of current ice conditions and what can be expected when the ship enters the icy waters in mid-January.

This helps the Coast Guard determine what their route will be, but this year, was a bit different from previous years.

“The ice melted out much sooner than what we had expected and around four weeks ahead of what climatology would have suggested for the Ross Sea,” Motz explained. “So it was just a lot more melt earlier than we were anticipating or had seen in any previous years.”