“WARM” WEATHER AT POLE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28475, 3 January 1958, Page 11

“WARM” WEATHER AT POLE

Temperature Rises To 30 Degrees

“It’s not quite shirt sleeves weather at the South Pole, but men stationed at the United States International Geophysical Year base reported a ‘heat wave’ that has lifted temperatures to a balmy 2deg below freezing point” said a United States Navy news release from McMurdo Sound. A radiosonde weather balloon recently rose to 105223 ft at the Polar base. This is about twenty miles and is an altitude record for Antarctica. The message says that round-the-clock sunshine at McMurdo Sound, with mild temperatures of 30deg, has caused shallow melt holes to appear in the 6000 ft ice runway which will be patched with ice cement.

However, although the “heat* has curtailed the Globemaster Christcnurch-McMurdo Sound service, ski-equipped aircraft are operating at McMurdo. They are aiding the I.G.Y. programme by ferrying scientists and equipment to isolated spots, as well as keeping open the links with the other United States Antarctic bases. In the last few days 10 United States Navy men of the McMurdo search and rescue team madeparachute jumps to maintain their qualification for the work. The tanker Nespelen is also at McMurdo now. She arrived on December 30 and is unloading her cargo of fuel.