The Press WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1971. The Antarctic season

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32700, 1 September 1971, Page 16

The Press WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1971. The Antarctic season

The first Deep Freeze flight from Christchurch this week heralds another summer of international scientific endeavour in Antarctica. The United States will again mount the largest task force of any of the 12 countries involved, the signatories to the Antarctic Treaty. Most of the American projects this season will be work continued from previous years. A major new project, in which some New Zealand scientists will join, is based on the drilling in dry valleys of bores which are expected to provide valuable information for geologists, glaciologists, geochemists, geophysicists, biologists, and microbiologists.

An international glaciology project, in which French, American, Russian, and Australian scientists will take part, will be started this season. It is expected to last four summers. Part of this year’s programme requires a traverse of more than a thousand miles in East Antarctica and will make considerable demands on the logistic support for the expedition. Another trek, of 900 miles, will be made by men of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition. These traverses may be the last major Antarctic treks. The experience gained on previous Antarctic treks will be of great value to the members of this season’s expeditions; but notwithstanding all the sophisticated logistic support they can call on, those taking part will still have to face the vagaries of the cruellest climate on earth. Opportunities for tourists to visit Antarctica will again be severely restricted. A Lindblad voyage will be made to the Antarctic Peninsula, to the south of South America, but no tourist visits to McMurdo Sound are planned. Air New Zealand has apparently shelved its plans for flights to the Antarctic. “ While it is operationally practical ”, says the airline’s annual report, “ the need for “ ground facilities in the way of buildings and surface “transport to serve tourists taken there has caused “ the company to postpone any serious planning “ meantime. ”

Across-the-board constraints on spending by New Zealand Government departments this year have not trimmed any fat off this country’s Antarctic research programme, which was already lean enough by any standards. Scientists instead of boy scouts Will do the chores round Scott Base, and the scientific work will suffer as a consequence. Perhaps it is

not too late to hope for a reversal of this decision. The United States Antarctic research programme has been left virtually untouched in spite of the balance-of-payments crisis which has led to cuts in, among other things, foreign aid and military spending.

Since the end of the last Antarctic season bilateral relations between many of the signatories to the Antarctic Treaty have been strained. Australia expressed displeasure over the outcome of the Luxemburg Agreement between Britain and the Common Market, of which two members, Belgium and France, are treaty signatories. Russia and Japan are understandably apprehensive about the outcome of President Nixon’s “ ping-pong diplomacy ”. Japan is being forced by the United States to revalue the yen. New Zealand and probably several other treaty signatories have protested to France about nuclear testing in the Pacific. South Africa’s racial policies continue to arouse protests in virtually every country interested in Antarctic research. The Antarctic off-season has added several chapters to the history of the conflict of nations. It is all the more encouraging that there is no good reason to fear that this conflict will have echoes in Antarctica. The scientists of a dozen countries who are now preparing for the rigours of Antarctica may, indeed, feel that they are escaping for a while from the world and its troubles. If the world’s leaders—and particularly its troublemakers—could all be packed off to Antarctica for a season’s work they would surely benefit from observing international co-operation in action. There, it has always been true that men must work together if they are to survive.