Pôle sud: la Chine ouvre sa 4e station scientifique

La Chine a ouvert sa quatrième station scientifique baptisée Taishan en Antarctique, rapporte samedi l'agence Chine nouvelle se référant au bureau national des affaires océaniques.

Située à 2.600 m d'altitude entre les stations chinoises Zhongshan et Kunlun, la nouvelle base scientifique fonctionnera pendant la période estivale pendant les 15 prochaines années. Elle pourra accueillir jusqu'à 20 personnes. La station est dotée d'une piste d'atterrissage.

La Chine a envoyé pour la première fois des chercheurs en Antarctique en 1984. Sa première base scientifique antarctique Chángchéng zhàn ("Grande muraille") fonctionne depuis 1985.

Les médias chinois ont antérieurement annoncé que Pékin comptait porter le nombre de ses stations scientifiques en Antarctique à cinq d'ici 2015.
 http://fr.ria.ru/science/20140208/200423345.html
8/2/14
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Sur le même sujet:

• China begins journey to South Pole

• Antarctique: nouvel échec des négociations sur les sanctuaires marins...

• Who has the right to Antarctic?

Maori monument unveiled in snow-stricken Antarctica (VIDEO, PHOTOS RT)

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Despite being over 2,000 miles from New Zealand’s capital Wellington, the country has decided to unveil a bizarrely placed Maori statue in the depths of Antarctica, celebrating with a present of whisky from a 100-year-old frozen hoard.
Prime Minister John Key and Ngai Tahu tribal leader Sir Mark Solomon both unveiled the Maori artifact as part of celebrations in New Zealand surrounding the 56th anniversary of Antarctic research facility Scott Base.

A rare, century-old bottle of whisky from the lost stash of explorer Ernest Henry Shackleton was also presented as a gift amid the festivities. However, it remained unopened.
The statue, engraved from two west-coast totara  trees, was created by members of the ancient Ngai Tahu tribe, who were thought to have migrated from New Zealand's North Island to the South Island prior to the arrival of European settlers, which resulted in their collective impoverishment.
The sculpture was christened ‘The Navigator of the Heavens’ amid jokes that the native New Zealanders were not laying claim to a chunk of the polar region.

Screenshot from AP video

The leader of the tribe said that the totem represents all Maori and demonstrates their vital place at the heart of New Zealand, and is “about the Maori culture of New Zealand.”
Antarctic-New Zealand symbols are scattered across the carving, such as ocean currents, and whales that navigated the ocean between the two shores. The totara tree wood is thought to be resilient to Antarctica’s difficult climate, despite having already developed some cracks.
Having taken half a year to create, it took a further two weeks to effectively secure the monument in place, facing extreme weather conditions and temperatures that dropped as low as -10⁰C.
The unveiling was accompanied by a similar reveal of two wooden tukutuku (lattice) panels, which the Scott Base staff helped create.  One depicted Maori ancestors alongside their fellow New Zealanders who had died in Antarctica, including those from the 1979 Mount Erebus plane crash. The other honored ongoing scientific investigations in the region.

Screenshot from AP video

The statue was erected next to the New Zealand flagpole that Sir Edmund Hillary put up in 1957 to mark the opening of the base.
Scott Base is named after British Captain Robert Falcon Scott, who led two expeditions to Antarctica in the first 15 years of the 20th century. He and his crew died on the way back from their final journey, after being beaten to the South Pole in January 1912 by a Norwegian expedition unit led by Roald Amundsen.
Celebrations of the facility’s momentous anniversary continued when John Key presented the Antarctic Heritage Trust with a century-old bottle of whisky. The bottle was part of Ernest Henry Shackleton’s 1909 reserve, who had to abandon them on a separate exploration of Antarctica. It was part of a crate discovered under two feet of polar ice beneath Shackleton’s hut in 2007, found to be in perfect condition.

Screenshot from AP video
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.rt.com
20/1/13

Who does Antarctica belong to?/Who has the right to Antarctic?

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For half a century the question of who owns Antarctica has been frozen but it is showing signs of warming up.

This week the Chilean president made his third visit to the continent, where he placed a flag where Chile's latest research station will be opened.
Bill Hayton reports.
BBC
17/1/13
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Related posts:

• Who has the right to Antarctic?

• China begins journey to South Pole

• Bohrung nach verborgenem See abgebrochen

• Argentina protests renaming part of Antarctica in honour of Queen

• Oι Βρετανοί διέκοψαν τη γεώτρηση στη λίμνη Ellsworth της Ανταρκτικής εξαιτίας ατυχήματος

  

Who has the right to Antarctic?

Next century may see replotting in the Antarctic. As soon as scientists find ways of extracting oil and gas from under layers of ice 1 kilometre thick, at least 30 countries will make claims on the sixth continent. At present scientists continue working on the southernmost continent where they mainly study the resource base.


Huge resources of oil and gas are hidden under the ice cover of the Antarctic. It is a proved fact but at present the development of these fields is too difficult and unprofitable. In addition, many countries are held back by the status of a continent. According to the treaty on the Antarctic, no one has the right either to draw state borders there or develop mineral deposits.


Still, there are some countries whose Constitutions guarantee control over Antarctic territories to them. For example, Australia raises claims to one third of the continent. Argentina and even the UK apply to the principle of neighbourhood. London and Buenos Aires stake on sectors in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas) whose status the two countries have not regulated until today. Incidentally, Chile also makes claims to the same sector. Vyacheslav Martianov from the Institute of the Arctic and the Antarctic, deputy head of the Russian Antarctic Expedition, explains the situation.

“The sector which belongs to Chile is registered in Argentina and the UK as their own sectors. If one of those countries says that this is their territory they will face opposition from the whole of the Antarctic community and the two pioneer countries, as well as those countries whose constitutions also claim that those are their territories. The agreement on the Antarctic prevents all countries from taking any steps concerning the continent but the ocean around is a different matter. There is a contradiction between the maritime law and the treaty on the use of seabed mineral resources.”

New Zealand, France and Norway also raise claims to parts of the Antarctic. The latter is prepared to annex lands in the centre of the continent that exceed the area of that country tenfold. In addition, there are about 20 other countries that in the past began scientific research on the South Pole, made some discoveries there and built research stations. In the future their contribution to the Antarctic science could become the reason for claiming rights to their own piece of the sixth continent, experts say. However, no one has yet cancelled the right of pioneer countries for the new lands, Vyacheslav Martianov says.

“The pioneer countries for the Antarctic are Russia and the US. Russia carried out the expedition of Bellingshausen and Lazarev in 1819-1821. Americans produced a pirate who discovered the Antarctic at approximately the same time and this has been recognized. For this reason the two countries are considered to be pioneers in discovering the Antarctic. As a pioneer country, either of these countries can announce the whole of the sixth continent their territory.”

Neither Russia nor the US has taken advantage of this right yet. Still, there is no way to avoid replotting of the Antarctic. In about 100 years the world may face deficit of resources, scientists believe. Then countries would have to solve the problem of the right to oil and gas fields on the South Pole. It would most likely be a peaceful process, Russian scientists say.

The treaty on the Antarctic which forbids exploring mineral resources on the continent is reviewed every 50 years. No amendments were introduced to the treaty at the session in 2009. Experts do not rule out that by the time of the next session representatives of the member-states could develop suggestions on borders. In 1959 the agreement was signed by 12 countries that wanted to carry out research on the continent, Russia and the US included. At present the convention is supported by over 45 countries.
http://english.ruvr.ru
4/1/13
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 ***Under the 1961 international treaty on the sovereignty of Antarctica, the sixth continent does not belong to any world nation
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Related posts:

• China begins journey to South Pole

• Bohrung nach verborgenem See abgebrochen

• Argentina protests renaming part of Antarctica in honour of Queen

• Oι Βρετανοί διέκοψαν τη γεώτρηση στη λίμνη Ellsworth της Ανταρκτικής εξαιτίας ατυχήματος

  

China begins journey to South Pole

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A Chinese research group has arrived at the Antarctic to start the 29th scientific expedition, with the goal of establishing China’s fourth base in the region.
Thinking about the South Pole, images of furry little animals, big chunks of iceberg and imposing auroras may spring to mind.
The reality on the ground, however, is quite different.

Yan Han, member of 29th Antarctic expedition team, said, "The South Pole stands at the southernmost point of the Earth, which means solar radiation is very low here. With surfaces covered in snow and ice, it’s no surprise that the average annual temperature is below 25 degrees Celsius. The extreme weather makes our work here very demanding, both physically and mentally."
In 2009, China’s 26th scientific expedition chose a more difficult route, suffering the westerlies when at sea.
Yuan Shaohong, captain of Chinese research vessel Xuelong, said, "The westerlies refers to a belt of westerly winds between the 30 and 60 degrees latitude. During our travel, we encountered a huge storm which brought 13-meter-high waves, which threatened to overturn our vessel."
For nearly two months, the expedition team was pinned down under these winds, which made the simple act of sleeping a challenge.
A long journey to a faraway land. A journey well worth it, But they all think it is worthwhile when the South Pole shows her beautiful side...and it is also quite impressive to take pictures like this.
.cntv.cn
3/1/13
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