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Shifting snow for Science
2014-01-07
The operating costs for the South Pole station must be hundreds of thousands of dollars per day. Divide this by the relatively small number of science grantees accommodated here, and the per-person figure is daunting. In addition to the obvious food, energy, transport and logistics costs, there is snow management. The average snowfall is only about 200mm per annum, but any feature which interrupts the landscape quickly accumulates drifts from blowing snow. It's a full-time job for several operators to clear the drifts during Summer, taking the snow to "the end of the world": a man-made snow cliff several kilometers away.
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Shifting snow for Science
2014-01-07
The operating costs for the South Pole station must be hundreds of thousands of dollars per day. Divide this by the relatively small number of science grantees accommodated here, and the per-person figure is daunting. In addition to the obvious food, energy, transport and logistics costs, there is snow management. The average snowfall is only about 200mm per annum, but any feature which interrupts the landscape quickly accumulates drifts from blowing snow. It's a full-time job for several operators to clear the drifts during Summer, taking the snow to "the end of the world": a man-made snow cliff several kilometers away.
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