Polarstern Goes to the Extremes of the Earth

On January 8^th, the Polarstern was officially farther away from civilization than the International Space Station, which orbits at an altitude of ~400 km (~250 miles) above the Earth's surface! This extreme isolation means that there must be a plan in place in case there is an emergency on the ship where someone needs to be transported quickly back to land.

In the photo above (taken by Michael Gallagher aboard one of the expedition helicopters), you can see the recently constructed runway that was built for small planes to land in case of such an emergency. The runway is 400 m (>1300 ft) long and 25 m (~82 ft) wide, and was cleared by a 'PistenBully,' a machine used to groom ski slopes. This might qualify as the world's most remote airplane runway! For more information, click here.