(British) Govt considered quitting Antarctica

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Govt considered quitting Antarctica
Published: Tuesday, 5 February, 2008, 07:47 AM Doha Time

LONDON: Britain considered closing its bases in Antarctica in the 1950s due to the high costs of maintaining them and aggressive territorial claims from Chile and Argentina, previously secret papers showed yesterday.

The revelations in documents released by the National Archive come as Britain and other nations weigh extending their claims to the seabed around Antarctica by a May 2009 deadline.

The seabed under the vast ice-bound continent is thought to hold rich mineral resources, and scientists fear there could be a subsea land grab sparking the friction between nations that was seen on the surface half a century ago.

The documents were released under a rule that keeps some sensitive government data under lock and key for 50 years for reasons of national security.



Read more: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=199798&version=1&template_id=38&parent_id=20

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Since it was the British Halley base that discovered the ozone hole

and some of the others are vital in the science of global warming, I'm glad they kept the bases. http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/living_and_working/research_stations/halley/

We should given up all claims to mineral rights, push for international control of the continent, but keep the scientific bases there.

[Lisa]

3. I've met some of the BAS scientists -- they are great people

Just terrific in the field, and passionate about what they do. As you say -- it was the BAS that alerted the world to the ozone hole. And researchers in the Antarctic have been carefully monitoring changes due to global warming, too.

[RuleOfNah]

2. Before it melts?

:popcorn: