A Trip Down South

N AT I O N A L R E V I E W/A P R I L 7, 2008 on the roster of this trip. There were a dozen of us altogether, the latest crew of a regular pilgrimage brought together by the secretary of the Navy every other year to publicize the American enterprise in the Antarctic. Our country’s role began as a celebration of the International Geo- physical Year in 1957, a common under- taking of a dozen nations, featuring the United States and the Soviet Union. The principals had made an enduring com- mitment to maintain two stations in the Antarctic: one of them housing at least twelve American scientists and a single Soviet scientist, the second housing at least twelve Soviets and a single Amer- ican. The alien scientist had a symbolic role, a reminder that the geophysical ex- peditions were nonpartisan. And, we all assumed, the extranational scientist also served a peekaboo purpose, to assure that neither monolith was turning its Antarctic igloo into a laboratory for the develop- ment of ice-age warfare.

Goldwater, child of the Grand Canyon, was always impressed by sheer mag- nitude, and the dimensions we would be visiting were very grand indeed. Antarctica is larger than the United States and Mexico combined. Its coastline is 11,000 miles long. During the winter, the ice doubles the size of the continent. The ice at the South Pole is about two miles thick. If it were all to melt, the water level of the world would rise by 200 feet, which means that the first 14 stories of the Empire State Building would be under water. The ice in Antarctica is a deposit of 70 percent of the earth’s supply of fresh water.

About the Author

William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

N AT I O N A L R E V I E W/A P R I L 7, 2008 on the roster of this trip. There were a dozen of us altogether, the latest crew of a regular pilgrimage brought together by the secretary of the Navy every other year to publicize the American enterprise in the Antarctic. Our country’s role began as a celebration of the International Geo- physical Year in 1957, a common under- taking of a dozen nations, featuring the United States and the Soviet Union. The principals had made an enduring com- mitment to maintain two stations in the Antarctic: one of them housing at least twelve American scientists and a single Soviet scientist, the second housing at least twelve Soviets and a single Amer- ican. The alien scientist had a symbolic role, a reminder that the geophysical ex- peditions were nonpartisan. And, we all assumed, the extranational scientist also served a peekaboo purpose, to assure that neither monolith was turning its Antarctic igloo into a laboratory for the develop- ment of ice-age warfare.

Goldwater, child of the Grand Canyon, was always impressed by sheer mag- nitude, and the dimensions we would be visiting were very grand indeed. Antarctica is larger than the United States and Mexico combined. Its coastline is 11,000 miles long. During the winter, the ice doubles the size of the continent. The ice at the South Pole is about two miles thick. If it were all to melt, the water level of the world would rise by 200 feet, which means that the first 14 stories of the Empire State Building would be under water. The ice in Antarctica is a deposit of 70 percent of the earth’s supply of fresh water.