A new topic each day
Published on 01.01.2008 - General Info
Every day, the expedition leader publishes specific information about a particular polar topic from what is turning out to be a great scientific adventure.
The reports published on the website for the Norwegian-U.S. Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica expedition are interesting in more ways than one. Not only do they chart the progress of this amazing motorised and scientific convoy, but they also tell the story of what life is like on board the various sections of the caravan for those who are not driving the snow tractors. That's interesting enough in itself...
Over the past few days, though, expedition leader Jan Gunnar has decided to focus his dispatches on one or another aspect of polar research. In other words, every day he sends out information that everyone can understand and digest.
On 23rd December for example, he compared navigating with a sextant, the way the polar pioneers did a century ago, with using a GPS (Global Positioning System). GPS is a technology using satellites that is capable of telling you your exact position within twenty centimetres or so. Then, a few days later, he explained how the extraordinary and sometimes weird landscape around the expedition is formed amid the empty vastness of the ice. On 29th December, he discussed the political sharing of the frozen continent and the Antarctic Treaty that made this part of the world a land of peace and science. The next day, he talked about the huge reserves of freshwater locked in by the ice of the Antarctic icecap, representing two-thirds of all the freshwater on the planet...
For anyone who wants to know more about Antarctica, the website set up for this American-Norwegian expedition is definitely the place to go.
