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Exploring Antarctica

Posted by michael on from the don't-forget-your-mittens dept.

dargaud writes "There will soon be some firsts on the high Antarctic plateau: after getting 150km from it last year a Chinese expedition plans on reaching Dome A, the highest part of the Antarctic ice sheet (4200m), farthest to reach and coldest place on Earth, untrodden yet. Then in a few months the French-Italian station of Concordia at Dome C (3200m) will open year-round for its first winter-over, of which I will be part. The location of these ice domes make them great for atmospheric physics, glaciology, astronomy and more. Big projects are getting interested in Antarctica again, just in time for the International Polar Year of 2007, 50 years after the first one."

4 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Antarctica - the coldest place on Earth by helfen · · Score: 3, Informative

    Antarctica holds the world's record for coldest temperature: -129F ( recorded in 1983 at the Russian Base Vostok).

    Current temp of Vostok is -64 F / -53 C.

  2. Big Dead Place by Aggrajag · · Score: 3, Informative

    One of the funniest and most interesting sites I know. Site has stories about the people working over there (Antarctica) and other stuff as well.

    http://www.bigdeadplace.com/

  3. Reads different to me by AviLazar · · Score: 3, Informative

    Australia, Chile, and Argentina claim Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) rights or similar over 200 nm extensions seaward from their continental claims, but like the claims themselves, these zones are not accepted by other countries; 20 of 27 Antarctic consultative nations have made no claims to Antarctic territory (although Russia and the US have reserved the right to do so) and do not recognize the claims of the other nations; also see the Disputes - international entry

    Apparantly 20 of the 27 nations have not made any claims. And apparantly those 27 do not recognize claims by other nations. I think your paraphrasing is incorrect.

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    I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
  4. IceCube starting up by EigenHombre · · Score: 4, Informative
    There is always a tremendous amount of science going on in Antarctica, but this year will mark the first deployment of sensors in the IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole, one of the largest Antarctic science projects to date.

    If all goes well this Austral Summer, IceCube will deploy four "strings," each with 60 light sensors attached, at a depth of about 2 km. Subsequent years will deploy more sensors until a total of 4800 is reached, making the cubic-kilometer sized detector one of the largest on Earth.

    IceCube's quarry is primarily neutrinos of extraterrestrial origin. For the uninitiated, neutrinos are extremely elusive subatomic particles produced by high energy interactions. Candidate sources include the supermassive black holes at the heart of so-called "Active Galactic Nuclei", dark matter, and the mysterious Gamma Ray Bursts.

    A recent article has more information.
    See also a previous Slashdot post about IceCube's predecessor, AMANDA.
    Wikipedia has this introduction to neutrinos.

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    EOT