1,600 km of road in Antarctica

2003/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Garraioak
• Geografia

Americans begin to build 1,600 kilometers of road in Antarctica. The road will connect the coastal station of McMurdo with the station of Scott-Amundsen located in the South Pole for the transport of heavy scientific equipment. The project, which has a budget of 12 million euros, intends to carry it out within two years.

Today you can only get by air to the Scott-Amunds station, which greatly limits communication. You cannot transport all the equipment you want and depend on time. This is the fiber optic installation next to the road between both bases to be able to send information in real time to the laboratories that use polar equipment. The base of Scott-Amunds is today out of reach of most communication satellites and fiber would solve the problem.

The ecologists, for the moment, have not made big protests. A pact that prevents the commercial exploitation of Antarctica, in force until 2041, crosses a lifeless region. In addition, they can only be used by official convoys.