On a trial estimation of construction work for the ground runway at East Ongul Island in Antarctica

Abstract

It is a long-standing request of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) to have a ground runway constructed on East Ongul Island. If the dream comes true, the runway will make it possible for samll airplanes to be used by JARE. Ideally the runway can be used all the time. Furthermore, it will be available as an emergency runway if a flying airplane of JARE misses a landing field on sea ice due to sudden change of weather. Seven plans for a runway on East Ongul Island which had been proposed by several planners in the past 11 years were classified into two groups, plans for a small runway for the use of small planes such as the JARE Cessna-185 and Pilatus PC-6,and others for a large runway. The amount of earth work for each proposed runway was estimated and the proposals were assessed for practicality. Multiple reviews of these large-scale civil engineering works will be needed. Data obtained will be used for the next stage of review.