There are a wide variety of vehicles that
are used in and around McMurdo. These are some of the passenger carrying
shuttle vehicles that Sharon might be driving to take people to work and
"around town". These vehicles are also used to get people to and
from the airfields.
For vehicles that are not going to leave
base, tyres are adequate, even if they are extra large, extra fat and
extra knobbly tyres.
Around McMurdo the vehicles run on
"roads" that are flat and smooth. Away from the base, the
terrain is not like this and while such vehicles as these could get a long
way off base, if they became bogged down in soft snow or slushy ice, they
would have problems in getting out again, and that's not even mentioning
what would happen if one or more wheels found a crevasse or broke through
the sea ice.
In the winter months, vehicles are hooked
up to a "hitching rail". This is a power supply rail that keeps
a heater in the vehicle going so that it is possible to start when
required. Without a heater, it would take a long time, possibly many hours
to get the engine to a state where it could start up.
Vehicles that are not required during the
winter months such as the larger passenger carriers are either garaged or
raised up so the weight is not taken on the wheels if they are left
outside. Cold temperatures mean that tyre pressures decrease if they are
not pumped up. This would cause the weight of the vehicle to flatten the
tyre in conditions where the tyre is rather brittle and so could be
permanently misshapen. When the spring arrives again, temperatures
increase and the vehicles are required again, so they are let back down to
earth and put back into use.
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