The half buried Dome as seen from the over-towering new South Pole Station building. Image ExplorersWeb files (click to enlarge)
LINKS
|
Call to preserve the South Pole Dome
Posted: Nov 12, 2009 04:47 am EST
(ThePoles.com) A geodesic dome at the South Pole will be demolished in the next few months. It sheltered as many as 200 scientists and support workers in the summer seasons and 50 winter-overs for 30 years. A small group of polar veterans is trying to preserve the structure.
Prominent feature
The Dome has been the prominent feature at the Pole for all those years, but is replaced by the new building.
The group of polar veterans want the windowless, 55-foot-high aluminum structure taken apart the same way as the Navy Seabees assembled it, reported the New York Times.
The National Science Foundation (NSF), the federal agency that oversees polar programs, has agreed to disassemble the top three rings, or about 45 triangular panels, for eventual installation at a Seabee museum being built in Port Hueneme, California, reported the news source.
“The bulk of the dome, which has 904 panels and 1,448 struts in all, held together by about 60,000 bolts, would be cut apart.”
Money needed
Lee Mattis was a young engineer for a California company who constructed the Dome over two Antarctic summers. He came up with a way to erect the structure, but said it will cost about $500,000 above the $150,000 the National Science Foundation has budgeted for the project.
Mr. Mattis said his group hoped to have demolition delayed for a year and to use the time to interest private groups or individuals in providing the additional money to bring the whole dome back, with the idea that museums or other institutions would be interested in displaying parts of it, reported the New York Times.
Brian W. Stone, a deputy division director in the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs, replied, “We’re sensitive to the fact that it’s been an iconic structure for a lot of people for a long time, but we are somewhat bound by the logistics and the need to wrap this up.”
|
