 weapons coupled with a fighting skill of the American soldier stands ready on the alert all over the world to defend this country you the American people against aggression this is the big picture an official television report to the nation from the United States Army now to show you part of the big picture here is Sergeant Stewart Queen as we move into the geophysical year scientific investigations of the earth and its relationships in the universe are currently reaching a new high research is going on from pole to pole from Arctic to Antarctic today's big picture deals with one of our Army scientific investigation projects the work being done by the Corps of Engineers first engineer Arctic Task Force since 1954 when the first task force was formed Army and civilian scientists and engineers have been working in the frozen wastes within the Arctic Circle even as we watch today's report men of the first engineer Arctic Task Force are compiling data in their snow and ice shelters which will add immeasurably to man's understanding of the world in which he lives an imaginary line drawn around the top of the world 23 and a half degrees from the North Pole marks the Arctic Circle contained within the circle in our hemisphere are parts of Alaska Canada and Greenville it is an area of the world little populated by man for the ice and snow and subzero cold are unfriendly to human life for many years the importance of this part of the world as a weathermaker has been recognized for here is a huge reservoir of cold which daily affects the world's weather the lands within the Arctic Circle also represent a tremendous recording machine of time and climates past since the years when the first explorers penetrated these frozen wastes and reported their findings scientists have found the information about temperatures winds and humidities vital to an understanding of the world's weather and climate in recent years the Arctic has opened up an ideal location for making scientific studies of cosmic rays of atmospheric electricity of earth magnetism and aurora borealis but at the same time the Arctic has also become an increasingly important area when considered in terms of military and political strategy within the past decade the polar region has become a major concern to defense planners of the United States the long-range bomber and the guided missile have given new meaning to the Arctic the polar route is the shortest between Russia and America one of the first US Army operations in the Arctic was operation snowman in 1947 operation blue jay followed four years later and then project mint julep in 1953 during the early part of the following year the first engineer Arctic Task Force was organized its mission was the coordinating supervising and providing of logistical support for the core of engineers research and development program in the Arctic because of climate and terrain many of the engineering problems prove unique the road building program has a dual purpose first the engineers are experimenting with different road building techniques trying to find the best kind of road composition for the area the problem is a difficult one because of the great variation in temperatures throughout the year in winter the ice is as hard as concrete in summer the snow and ice turn into a sea of slush at low altitude secondly in experimenting with road construction the engineers are actually building a highway which will make deeper penetration into the Arctic possible experience has shown that course dirt called Phil makes the best base material for road building on ice but although course Phil makes up the greater part of the road section silty sand is needed for the crown to give the road surface adequate smoothness the complexity of the engineer's job can be better understood when some of the strange physical conditions they face here are considered in the first place the ice on either side of the road is melting vertically at the same time the ice under the road is moving horizontally the melting of the ice under the road is nearly halted by placing two and a half feet of fill on the ice service the road then gradually becomes perched the elevation of the road surface gradually increases above that of the surrounding ice surveys made in the past show that ice forming the subgrade for the road moves on a seasonal basis this moment is not constant but varies according to the confirmation of the ground under the ice further investigations and experiments by the engineers may provide the answer to this problem the road construction crew works only during the summer and the summer is brief lasting only from mid-June until mid-August but despite the shortness of the working season a considerable length of road has been laid equally important experience gained here will lead to better Arctic building methods in the future as army civilian scientists and soldiers of the first engineer Arctic Task Force penetrate deeper into the Arctic vastness new problems and new dangers present themselves in some places the snow and ice covering the land prevent the engineers from reaching the dirt or fill needed for road building men and vehicles must travel over the snow but as the shape of the land far below alters hidden changes take place in the unseen snow layers underfoot dangerous man-killing crevasse great vaults and hundred foot caverns are formed when a crevasse has been detected by careful probing its dimensions must be determined in effect nature has formed a snow bridge over a nice he can dynamite will now be used to blast away the bridge and reveal the size of the treacherous crevasse once access has been obtained the crevasse must still be explored a volunteer member of the detection team is lowered into the dark abyss later a bulldozer will cram snow into the crevasse forming a well marked sturdy bridge for vehicles and snow trains because of such Arctic hazards as crevasse's well marked trails must be laid out so that vehicles traveling at night or in the dark of a polar storm do not lose their way in an attempt to find a simple inexpensive method for marking long distance trails an electrical system was developed by the core of engineers and put into use in the field the system consists of single wire which is fed with an electric current vehicles using the trail are equipped with special receivers the receiver picks up the magnetic current and indicates the cost trail position on a light panel inside the vehicle when a vehicle like the weasel is traveling parallel to the wire the meter reads in the center turning the weasel at an angle to the wire will give a reading on the meter in the same direction as the turn in effect the driver is allowed to drive blind he's safe as long as he follows the wire periodic checks are made on the system so that no vehicles will be stranded far from camp due to a power failure in the line patterned ground is a phenomenon peculiar to Arctic and subarctic regions the patterns are thought to be formed by a sorting and sifting action in the ground caused by the annual freezing and thawing because making do with the material at hand is one of the prime objectives of the engineers patterned ground is of special interest although there is a great variety of patterns they tend to repeat themselves when one pattern has been classified observers can tell from the air what kind of land lies below them when the same pattern reappears studies of the ground conformation in summer helped to predict what kind of travel conditions will exist over the charted ground when it is covered with the winter snow cost analysis of the operations of the task force revealed that the delivery of one ton of equipment to this area where the dump truck or building material costs approximately sixteen hundred dollars to accomplish their mission as economically as possible the engineers make every effort to utilize to best advantage the natural construction material found at hand permafrost is ground wet or dry in which the temperature is always below freezing core drilling in the permafrost gives specific answers to questions about what kind of building materials lie under the ground surface on all projects such as this army civilian scientists work side by side with engineer troops the morale of the personnel making up the task force is high despite the hardships all the men are volunteers the pick of the crop among all those who did volunteer then to every member of the group is working at a job which gives him a sense of personal accomplishment because his work produces tangible results most important perhaps is the fact that every member of the party has been indoctrinated with the strategic importance of the Arctic just as drilling in the permafrost provides valuable information about the nature of the terrain so drilling deep into glacial ice reveals many rewarding facts just as the rings in a cross section of a tree tell its age so to time is recorded in the ice through the number of layers the dates of various atomic explosions are preserved and even volcanic eruptions in places as far away as Java have been recorded in the ice the volunteers who man these research outposts generally spend at least two seasons in the Arctic ice again is the subject of study in another series of investigations conducted by the engineers the objective is to determine how ice cliffs behave and how they originate snug in his Jacobs chair a volunteer engineered drills holes for targets scientific measurements accurate to one thousandth of an inch are made regularly such measurements reveal how fast the ice cliff is moving when an overhanging section of the cliff becomes a hazard to the men working below it is blasted away while some members of the Arctic Task Force are busy measuring the rate of movement of the ice cliff others are busy tunneling deep into the ice itself ice is quite plastic it absorbs shock waves faster than rock here holds a drill preparatory to a dynamite blast hardly enough once inside the ice it's efficient depth the temperature becomes constant no matter how high or how low the temperature outside becomes 20 feet below the surface the temperature is 15 to 17 degrees above zero because that is approximately the mean annual temperature in the area the tunnels under construction are of various sizes and lie at different levels at the farthest reaches of the tunnels the equipment used is still relatively primitive but this is no deterrent to the men at the beginning of the working season the expected amount of tunneling is estimated invariably the norm is surpassed when the spoil or dug snow nears the mouth of the tunnel it is removed mechanically in the tunnels constant check is kept on the deformation the rate at which the walls and ceilings are closing in each year snow starts out as a layer about four feet deep outside as new snow falls the layers are compressed the tremendous weight of snow on the surface exerts a downward pressure on the ice below forcing it toward the coasts and ultimately into the sea the downward movement of the ice is very slow from a few inches to a few feet a year other investigations have led to the construction of a pilot railroad line in the ice tunnels here and there in the maze of tunnels a shaft has been sunk deep into the ice telephone contact is maintained between the man at the base of the shaft and the winch operator on the surface in another spot a shaft eight feet square and 100 feet deep was sunk by one soldier in the course of a single short summer with pick and shovel he dug it single-handed but by no means is all of the Arctic task forces snow and ice research conducted under the surface surface snow studies rank high in importance on the list of projects the concept of snow as a building material has existed for a long time but snow studies from this standpoint have not been too common as every school child learns no two snowflakes are ever alike as a result the various strength properties of snow change as conditions vary temperature depth time of fall and countless other factors must be considered to obtain samples for testing a cylindrical core auger is used the samples will be tested just as engineers test different types of earth they will be measured for strength under pressure for density their crystal structure study experience gained during previous army engineer investigations in the Arctic have emphasized the value of obtaining as many soldiers as possible who have been college trained in one of the professional scientific fields almost without exception these types of soldiers have been most valuable to the highly trained civilian and military project engineers and scientists for without extensive training they can do surveying compile data and operate scientific instruments other snow samples not examined and tested on the spot will be flown to the army snow ice and permafrost research establishment at Wilmette Illinois for more detailed analysis investigations of trenching methods may prove one of the most rewarding areas of research in the Arctic trenching is actually a kind of tunnel making the plow has dug a trench approximately 20 feet deep now steel arch forms are brought up to the trench one of the virtues of this type of construction is the fact that only native materials snow and ice are needed in the completed structure the arch forms themselves can be used over and over again tunnel building of this type is simple both in plan and in execution it is the material economy in this design that makes long distance tunneling attractive to the engineers once the trench has been dug by the rotary plow temporary supports are installed along the sides after the arch forms have been put in place snow will be blown over the roof when frozen it will form a ceiling for the tunnel in 24 hours the blown snow which has been milled will be hard as concrete the floor of the tunnel is hard and strong enough to permit the laying of track for an electric train even the problem of deformation the closing in of ceiling and walls could be licked by periodic shaving but for the members of the task force not every day is one of cold work and research occasionally they have an opportunity to play good Samaritan to assist a service when a disabled Air Force plane finds an emergency landing on the snow necessary the engineers are ready to lend a hand and they are not shy about taking credit for the salvage job although the plane itself is beyond repair thousands of dollars worth of expensive parts and instruments can be saved from all reports this will be the first time in history that a plane of this size has been given a piggyback ride by sled the point of delivery is two hundred and twenty miles away the trip will take two and a half days traveling day and night these big tractors may be slow moving but their fifty four inch track pads give them the needed traction for travel across snow and ice the flag top poles here outline the trail across a snow bridge ravine trails are marked for drinking water on one side rubbish on the other with the first storm in mid-August the end of the Arctic summer is announced not until the storm has led up does anyone appear on the camp street winds here reach 125 miles an hour in the flying snow visibility drops to zero in that peculiar Arctic phenomenon called a white out men report you feel as though you're lost inside an enormous bowl of milk for men who have spent weeks shoveling snow in tunnels and shafts shoveling out of their huts is routine this first storm marking summer's end is the signal for halting the full-scale research and development program in this section of the Arctic equipment and personnel will be collected from the scattered outposts and returned to the base camp here and there small units will remain at their posts throughout the long Arctic night but the main body of scientists and engineers will return to warmer climbs where the results of their work will be reported and analyzed come summer next year most will return for another assault on the mysteries of the Arctic now the Arctic is an awesome and formidable place both scientists and soldiers of the Army's first engineer Arctic Task Force learn that it should always be respected but never feared it is a challenge a frontier which must become American ingenuity determination and scientific skill are dedicated to this tax I'm in the future the tunnels which the engineers have been building through the Arctic ice may permit the passage of electric trains connecting one under ice outpost with another this currently is only a possibility not a plan but the fact that the engineers have been willing to tackle the job is very much in keeping with the motto of the core assay on let us try now this is sergeant Stuart Queen inviting you to be with us again next week for another look at your army in action on the big picture the big picture is a weekly television report to the nation on the activities of the army at home and overseas produced by the Army pictorial Center presented by the United States Army in cooperation with this station