- AUCKLAND - A dramatic new
building has emerged from the ice on one of the world's bleakest spots--the
South Pole.
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- The American Amundsen-Scott Base at the Pole, which since
1975, has lived in tunnels and a big geodesic dome, is now above ground
in a 128-million US dollars silver and spider-like affair.
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- Much of the credit for the remarkable piece of
engineering
rests with the New York Air National Guard who have flown every bit of
the base the 1,350 kilometres (840 miles) from the US polar base at McMurdo
Sound on Antarctic's coast.
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- The material also had to be shipped in by icebreaker
and aircraft from New Zealand, 3,800 kilometres (2,300 miles) north of
Antarctica. The Antarctic Sun newspaper in its latest issue said all three
US bases on the continent are being rebuilt with the South Pole the
architecturally
and engineering most interesting.
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- It said the first two wings of the eight-wing building
have been completed and people are now living in it. The Americans tried
to do some building work over the just ended winter. "The winter-over
crew had to be cut back somewhat because of the bad weather we had and
lack of flights," construction co-ordinator Doug Forsythe told the
newspaper.
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- This southern summer 85 construction workers will try
to catch up, as the New York Air National Guard aims to fly 348 missions
to the South Pole, of which 151 will carry construction materials for the
new building.
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- The entire building should be finished in four years.
It will house 110 people during the summer and 50 over the winter. Forsythe
said summer work was only slowly warming up. The cranes won't run until
it is minus -46 C (-50F) or above. The caterpillars and forklifts require
temperatures above minus -51C (-60F).
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- Even after the machines stop working the people keep
going, the Sun said. They continued labouring in 56 kilometres per hour
(35 miles per hour) winds when the temperature was -54C (-65F).
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- "We've had hammers actually break in half - not
the handle, the head," Forsythe told the Sun. "Chisels, if you
hit on them too hard, they shatter." The base honours Norwegian Roald
Amundsen, the first to arrive at the Pole on December 14 1911, Englishman
Robert Scott arrived on January 17, 1912, and died on the return trek to
the coast.
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- Americans have been living at the South Pole since 1957,
and the current base, a maze of tunnels around the silver dome, has been
there since 1975. The snow and ice have built up around the dome which
is now nearly below ground level.
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