A new National Centre of Excellence was established in 2003, and the 'icebreaker' Amundsen was refitted for polar science.

The team will use three 'icebreakers' as it tries to take cores from the Lomonosov Ridge between Siberia and Greenland.

At that time the Antarctic Programme was stationed in Lyttelton and he could watch the US Coastguard vessels, 'icebreakers' and helicopters.

The Yenisey binds the territory together on its 1,800-mile passage north to the Kara Sea, where 'icebreakers' help keep open the northern shipping route.