What Scientific Research Is Being Carried Out In Antarctica?

Geologists are working to discover what lies beneath the enormously thick crust of ice. Seismic recordings and radiometer photographs have recently revealed that the rock base of the greater part of Antarctica is continental in structure rather than oceanic. Antarctica is also found to be, at least at present, the quietest and most aseismic of all continents. Nearly all of Antarctica has been seen and most of the mountain regions have been aerially photographed and mapped. Geologists, biophysicists, glaciologists and geophysicists continue to visit and study these areas with the hope of finding out more about the structure and environmental system of the entire earth.

Antarctic stations have been established by several nations. Ten of the twelve nations that signed the Antarctic treaty maintain stations throughout the winter. Russia has Billinghausen Station on the Peninsula. The United States' main base of operations is McMurdo Station, on the Pacific side of the continent. It is nuclear powered, having an average population of 900 in the summer and 200 in the winter. It also maintains small year-round stations at the South Pole and in the Peninsula.

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