The South Pole

Day 280 / 365

One of the most isolated places on land on this planet is our geographical south pole. It lies in Antartica, the coolest and dryest place there is. Yet a few brave scientists go there every summer, to do research. What’s so special about this place?

Men first set foot on the south pole only about 100 years ago. But since then several research centers have been built around it. Even during the winter seasons, when it's so cold that a plane can’t get there as it’s fuel will be frozen, around 50 people would stay there and continue the research.

There are several reasons why we want to do research at the poles. Being the coldest places on earth, they have a huge effect on the earth’s climates. Also, the effect of global warming has been the greatest at the poles, as compared to the other parts of the globe.

Another interesting thing about Antartica is that the temperature has never gone above freezing on this continent. So when the snow falls, it just stays there. It doesn’t go away. The layers of ice near the pole is more than 3 km thick. This ice sometimes has air trapped inside of it, which is essentially air from our atmosphere from centuries ago. Thus by analyzing these ice cores, scientists are able to get information about the Earth’s climate in the past, and insights from this help us understand climate change better.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — The Seige of Moncao