Slashdot Mirror
South Pole to Get Highway
tetrad writes "The New Scientist magazine reports that the US is building a road to the South Pole. The "highway" would cross the Ross Ice Shelf and then pass through the Transantarctic Mountains (map here). Convoys of tractors will be the only traffic on the road, bringing fuel and heavy equipment to the South Pole, as well as enabling the installation of a $250M fibre-optic communications cable (discussed previously)."
If there's going to be a permanent presence on the South Pole, this kind of infrastructure is necessary. I worked on a satellite communications system that talked with the NOAA polar-orbit spacecraft. At the poles, you'll see the spacecraft every 90 minutes. Near the equator, you'll only see them 3 times a day for about 10-20 minutes (usable time) per. The polar research stations use the NOAA satellites as a primary communications store-and-forward service, as they can't see the geostationary satellites. Makes communicating with the research stations difficult.
Don't go expecting an asphalt two-lane road. Calling it a "highway" is misleading. A "conditioned ice-road" is more appropriate.
'In the next few weeks the ice road should have crossed the wide expanse of the Ross ice shelf, which permanently covers the ocean, and be approaching the Transantarctic Mountains. The mountains mark the halfway point to the Pole.'
The road is going to be ICE, not pavement. All they are doing is plowint the snow off of a section of the ice shelf.
how many millions (or billions) of dollars will be spent for this?
...as you would have known if you had RTFA. All they are doing is pushing the snow aside and flattening out the ice. No blasting, no rocks, no pavement, no paint.
Twelve
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
We ran a story on this topic yesterday over on SciFi Today with quite a few additional information links. A list of ALL of our recent stories is here. You can put SciFi Today Headlines on your Slashdot frontpage by clicking here and putting a checkmark in the SciFi Today box. Check us out!!!
Basically, yes - and they've reserved the right to do just that.
Check out the CIA World Factbook entry on the US here.
Scroll down to the very end and read 'Internationl Disputes'.
Since nobody seems to actually read articles:
$12-million project
1600 kilometres
20 days for the inland trip
10 days for the return to the coast (downhill!)
(That's a staggering average speed of 3.33 KPH for the trip to the pole, 6.66 KPH for the trip to the coast)
The traffic will consist of slow-moving convoys of caterpillar tractors, towing sleds with supplies.
The Scott-Amundsen base is only currently accessible by air, which places limits on cargo and relies on good weather. The road could be open to heavy traffic for up to 100 days a year during the austral summer.
I'm going to go back in my box and will think within the limits of my box: MS Sucks Linux Good I read too much Slashdot.
Perhaps you can explain to me how it would even be POSSIBLE to park a geo-synchronous satellite over the South Pole. Since the principle of operation of geo-synchronous satellite is that it's orbital speed == the speed of the earth's rotation over which it's parked, and that the speed of rotation at the earth's poles is by definition zero, that would mean the satellite would have to be orbitting at speed zero. Doesn't seem too likely, does it.
Sean
It's going to cost $12 million for a 1600km back-country road. It's not a high speed 6 lane super highway. No asphalt. No lines. It's a compressed snow/ice road that they are smoothing out and filling in crevices.
While I have not ever gone to the south pole, pictures I've seen indicate that it is pretty much frozen year round. I don't think that they are going to have to worry a whole lot about melting ice/snow in the imediate future.
The National Science Foundation is funding the entire road project...not the US Government directly. Yes the NSF is funded by the government, but I'd imagine that it has a regular line-item entry on the fiscal budget each year so it really isn't anything extra. I'd rather they build this road then have any polition go on a "fact-finding" junket.
Also, the road is justified. They are starting research at the south pole (Ice Cube Project) that requires heavy equipment to be brought in. Currently the only way to get their is by air, which places limits on the weight of cargo and they have to have clear skies. This road will help with both of those limitations.
- Ice(!). Yes indeed, in many part of the world, fresh water is so rare that it's now a valued commodity.
- Coal.
- Petroleum. Antarctica has never been explored for oil, but it's assumed that where there's coal, there might also be oil.
- Metallic minerals such as cobalt, chromium, nickel, vanadium, copper, iron, uranium, lead and platinum.
The main problem thusfar has been that despite Antarctica's mineral weath, it's been too expensive to mine those minerals. But a road to the South Pole would make it much more economical to explore for and exploit the resources.
The slashdot summary is oddly misleading, I think there would be a lot fewer 'wasted tax dollars' complaints if it was written this way round:
Plane for One Kilometer Cube Neutrino Telescope Goes Ahead
IceCube is a one-cubic-kilometer international high-energy neutrino observatory, located deep under the ice at the south pole, where the effects of the eath's magnetic fields will inferfere less with the observations.
Because the cost of flying all the necessary materials in by air is prohibitive, $12m of the $204m budget will be spent on pushing some ice out of the way so that the components can travel overland.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
Actually, if you check the CIA factbook, the United States and Russia do not recognize any claim to Antarctica. However, both nations reserve the right to claim any amount of territory on the continent. So, essentially, the US and Russia hold claims on Antarctica that virtually trump all others. I also believe that 3 or 4 nations actively claim portions of Antarctica as their own territory.
If you float fresh water ice in fresh water the level won't change when the ice melts. However, try using fresh water ice and sea water. This time the water level does indeed rise.
The owls are not what they seem
Well, I don't know what can qualify as ownership when it comes to Antarctica, but many countries have established points on this continent:
If any of this country disagrees with this highway (well, except USA, that is), surely enough they will get heard soon enough.
If it were a proper highway with rock base, it would have problems. The ice shifts a few meters per year. Cracking and breaking would be the result. They're basically using large tractors to carve a road into the ice and smooth it out to be flattened into a "road".
Although its not floating. Its a 4km thick piece of ice on top of land.
Get paid to code OSS
And..how about the poor soul that has to actually WORK at that station!
Well, it ain't that bad. I work for the Amanda/IceCube experiment. I did not yet go there myself, but a colleague just returned and she found it absolutely great there. For several reasons: the natural phenomena there are quite special, for instance the halo of the sun. Also the working atmosphere is very different from normal, the "level of enthusiasm" among the few hundred researchers (of several different sciences) there is much higher, either because of the oxygen levels (?) and/or because of the adventurous feeling as if you are on a different planet. It seems to be also refreshing to be so far away from (the rest of human) civilization for a while. The place is even addictive, she (my colleague) is still feeling very homesick to that place.
To be there as a winter-over (8 months, from Februari till November) is a different matter. Then there are much less people (between 50 and 70), typically the only activities are maintainance and routine data taking and you'd better not be somebody like me who gets depressed by longterm lack of sunlight. Still, winter-overs are volunteers and there are actually people taking this job for several years.
Next winter (that is, during the austral summer) I will also go there for a 5 week stay, I am really looking forward to it. It is actually one of the reasons why I joined this experiment...
Antarctica is jointly managed by several countries. The purpose of this "road" is to move scientific equipment to the research station that cannot be moved by C-130. See the below links, we are building a telescope.
t ml
The cost of any commercial interest in antartica would far exceed the gain. Why on earth would the USA dig for coal, minerals, etc. at the south pole when we can get it cheaper elsewhere?
See:
http://www.wisconline.com/UWMadisonNews/IceCube.h
or
http://icecube.wisc.edu/
Brought to you by the following countries:
USA, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Sweden.
Flame if you must,
Enjoy.
It's just the normal noises in here.
Actually, that was the Glomar Explorer, Challenger's sister ship. And, proving that there is life after notoriety, both are now involved in deep-sea oil exploration..
When I was there (McMurdo) in '94/'95, the convention was to drive the 'American' way. Scott Base, a New Zealand facility, is right next to McMurdo, and shares a lot of its infrastructure: airstrips, ship docks, etc. I expect the American convention won out because the American station has a lot more vehicles than the Kiwis.
I am curious about how they're going to lay fiber over the ice, and keep it intact. The ice does shift, and the conditions (wind and cold) are brutal.
Currently all comms traffic leaves McMurdo for the unmanned earth station at Black Island, just to the southwest. (Black Island can see geosync birds over Mt Erebus, Erebus obscures the view from McMurdo itself.) The traffic to BI (telephony and data/internet) goes over a microwave link. When I was there we did helo and GPS surveys with NASA of areas closer to MacTown to try to find a place to build an earthstation that could be linked by fiber, for greater bandwidth. No one had yet figured out how to keep fiber alive atop shifting ice in those conditions.
-- There is no truth. There is only Perception. To Percieve is to Exist.
Given that there are very strict rules for handling human impact in Antarctica, isn't this road, which will draw even more tourists and researchers, cause a real logistical nightmare? It's hard enough to haul the trash generated from shore, but if you start carrying truckloads of junk to the pole itself... you have to truck it out too. That's the trash collection job to end all trash collection jobs. From the McMurdo Station website for incoming Antarctic visitors:
WASTE MANAGEMENT
In 1990, McMurdo Station developed and implemented its first formal recycling program. Since then, Waste Management has continuously upgraded the program to maximize recycling efforts. During the 1993-94 season, the USAP recycled 70% of hazardous and non-hazardous waste. The program stands as a model for other communities and is a point of pride for the USAP community.
Except for human waste, all waste generated by the USAP is removed from Antarctica and returned to the United States for disposal. Because of strict Federal and State regulations on this process, it is crucial that waste be handled effectively.
The key to McMurdo's recycling program is careful source segregation: as careless separation of waste in McMurdo can result in material being unfit for recycling, it is everyone's responsibility to separate waste effectively. You will be briefed on the details of McMurdo's recycling program. Please be sure you gain a thorough understanding of your part in the recycling process; make sure your questions are answered. With a little practice, you'll find the separation of waste materials into a myriad of containers will become second nature--a process you expect to continue when you return to the world.
Antarctica is actually a desert, with little annual accumulation.
That's certainly true of the South Pole area itself, but from what I've read the edges of the continent get more than their fair share of snow. Reading the account of the Ross Sea party in Shackleton's book it certainly seemed like it snows there all the time!
But you're right, I find, that the problem at the South Pole station isn't new snow falling; it's the drifts of existing snow that buried the dome.
Great Britain
Argentinia
Chile
New Zealand
Australia
France
Norway
Nations with (temp or perm) stations:
Argentinia
Chile
New Zealand
USA
Germany
Italy
France
Australia
China
Japan
India
South Africa
+++ath0