Fact Sheet
U.S. Antarctic Program

February 3, 2004

The National Science Foundation (NSF), through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), coordinates almost all U.S. scientific research in the Antarctic. NSF is an independent federal agency and is the only federal agency whose mission covers research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF administers the USAP as well as the U.S. Arctic Program.

History: The U.S. scientific presence in Antarctica began in 1830, when James Eights became the first U.S. scientist on the continent. In 1841, a U.S. expedition mapped part of the Antarctic coast, proving that Antarctica was a continent. The USAP was established in 1959, after the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year, during which 12 nations established 60 research stations in Antarctica. The largest single expedition to Antarctica took place in 1947 when 13 ships and 4,700 personnel were dispatched to the region for the U.S. Navy's "Operation Highjump."

Scientific goals: The program's goals are: to understand the Antarctic and its associated ecosystems; to understand the region's effects on (and responses to) global processes such as climate; and to use Antarctica's unique features for scientific research that cannot be done as well elsewhere. Research is done in Antarctica only when it cannot be performed at a more convenient location.

Among the scientific disciplines encompassed by this broad mandate are astronomy, atmospheric sciences, biology, earth science, environmental science, geology, glaciology, marine biology, oceanography, and geophysics.

Program officers at NSF's Arlington, Va. headquarters administer grants to scientists nationwide interested in conducted research in Antarctica. Grants are issued only after proposals have been peer reviewed.

Research stations: To achieve its goals, NSF operates three U.S. scientific stations year-round on the continent.

• McMurdo Station Located on the Ross Sea, Antarctica's largest station serves as a "gateway" to Antarctica for U.S. scientific field teams as well as the hub for most of the U.S. scientific activity. During the Austral summer, the population of scientists and support personnel at McMurdo often exceeds 1,000 people. In the austral winter (from February to late October), the population drops to roughly 180 persons. Even at the height of the austral summer, the population at McMurdo is equivalent to the enrollment of an average U.S. high school and is situated on a landmass the size of the U.S. and Mexico combined.
• Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Located 841 statute miles inland from McMurdo, at the geographic South Pole, this station accommodates a maximum of 220 people (80 of whom are construction workers or construction-support personnel) during the Southern Hemisphere's summer, (austral summer). Temperatures there average minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit year-round; average austral winter lows are in the range of minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Astronomy and astrophysics are the primary scientific work carried out at the South Pole. The current Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, named for the two men who raced to discover the South Pole in 1911 and 1912, was built in the 1970's and features a central geodesic dome. The station currently is being rebuilt and modernized; reconstruction is scheduled for completion in 2005.
• Palmer Station. Located on Anvers Island in the Antarctic Peninsula region, logistically isolated from the other stations, it relies mainly on the R/V Laurence M. Gould for transport of passengers and resupply from a port at the southern tip of South America. The R/V Laurence M. Gould provides onboard research support in marine biology, oceanography, and geophysics and can support science in other areas of the southern oceans.

People: Some 3,500 Americans are involved each year in the program's research and logistical activities. Women constitute roughly 30 percent of the scientific and support workforce. Every year, more than 800 scientists and their support teams conduct research in Antarctica's unique environment.

Budget: The USAP budget for FY 2006 is approximately $295 million. NSF's budget for FY 2006 totaled about $5.8 billion.

Facilities and Logistics: OPP provides scientists with logistics, operational, and laboratory support in Antarctica. This includes the three U.S. research stations; summer camps (as required for research in the field); the newly constructed ice-strengthened research ship R/V Laurence M. Gould; the icebreaking research ship R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer; a fleet of ski-equipped, propeller-driven LC-130 airplanes; Twin Otter airplanes; and helicopters.

The U.S. Coast Guard has for many years provided icebreaking capability in McMurdo Sound to open a channel that allows ships to supply and refuel the stations at McMurdo and South Pole and to return recyclable materials to the United States. In recent years, a privately operated icebreaker has been chartered to open the channels and studies are underway to determine an alternative or combination of alternatives for resupplying the stations, including continued use of icebreakers. Ships of the U.S. academic fleet and the ocean drilling program also occasionally support research in Antarctica.

Starting in 1999, the 109th Airlift Wing of the N.Y. Air National Guard, which flies and maintains a fleet of ski-equipped LC-130 "Hercules" aircraft-- the only such aircraft squadron in the world—assumed from the U.S. Navy the responsibility of providing airlift to the program to transport personnel and materiel to Antarctica from New Zealand. The "Hercs," as they are known, are the workhorses of the U.S. Antarctic Program; transporting scientists and support personnel, and all materials to NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (including everything needed to build the new pole station).

The U.S. Air Force also provides additional logistical support with jet cargo aircraft.

USAP also contracts with Raytheon Polar Services Corp. (RPSC), of Englewood, Colo., for logistical support for the program.

Antarctica by the Numbers: Antarctica once was part of an enormous and temperate supercontinent called Gondwanaland. It broke free of its connection to other landmasses millions of years ago and began its southward drift. Today, it is a continent of extremes. For example:

• The continental landmass is 5.4 million square miles, an area larger than the U.S. and Mexico combined.
• More than 98 percent of the landmass is covered by an ice sheet that has accumulated over millions of years. The ice sheet averages just over 7,000 feet thick, but is more than twice that thick in places.
• Antarctica holds 90 percent of the world's ice, which in turn represents 70 percent of the world's fresh water. Yet precipitation in the interior averages only a few inches annually, making Antarctica one of the world's great deserts.
• The ice sheet at the South Pole is in constant motion, moving about 30 feet every year and necessitating an annual remarking of the geographic South Pole.
• As the ice moves out toward the edge of the continent, it breaks off, "calving" the world's largest icebergs, including one that was estimated to be similar in area to the state of Delaware.
• In the unlikely event that the Antarctic ice sheet melted suddenly, it would raise sea levels worldwide an estimated 200 feet, submersing much of the Gulf and Atlantic coastal areas of the U.S.
• Winds blowing from the interior plateau often reach speeds of 80 mph at the coast and can peak at 180 mph.
• The lowest surface temperature ever recorded on Earth was - 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit at Russia's Vostok Station in the continent's interior.

-NSF-

Useful Web Sites:

Office of Polar Programs (OPP): http://www.nsf.gov/dir/index.jsp?org=OPP
OPP's Antarctic Sciences Section: http://www.nsf.gov/dir/index.jsp?div=ARC
OPP's Polar Research Support Section: http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/prss/
NSF Custom News: http://www.nsf.gov/mynsf/

Media Contacts
Peter West, NSF (703) 292-8070 pwest@nsf.gov

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of $6.06 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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