Text 23902, 36 rader
Skriven 2008-11-21 11:51:28 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
  Kommentar till text 23895 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Re: Love that Ecology
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RB>WD> I don't fully agree with you there...
 
RB> Interesting comments... I was basing what I said on the TV reports about
RB> bases in the Antartic, where they showed huge piles of waste and junk
RB> near the basis and mentioned that it wasn't practical to remove it.
RB> Apparently the situation has changed in the meantime - to the detriment
RB> of future archeologists, who doubtless would _love_ to go through those
RB> waste piles to see how people lived back in the 21st century...
 
Well, I know clean-up campaigns are being run but they need to be executable.
 
The biggest pile of junk is at McMurdo (USA), mostly construction materials,
discarded drums, leaky sewage pipes, etc...
 
McMurdo can yearround be reached as it has a full sized runway capable of
handling C130's. Although they are big planes they are impractical to carry
garbage back ... it's a matter of payload and runway restrictions for take-off
and the distance to be flown.
 
Garbage needs to be transported out by cargo vessel and it depends how close
supply vessels can get to the base. I think the window of opportunity is a
month or so depending upon ice-melt. Despite all claims about global warming
McMurdo is not ice free every Antarctic summer. When it isn't sometimes an
icebreaker can provide relief and when it can't freighter vessels must stop at
the edge of the icefield and be unloaded onto snowcats for a sometimes tens of
miles long ride on the ice. In that case chances are not take to transport
garbage back.
 
I think McMurdo at any time has enough supplies to last 2 years or so. As it
is, it's a very big base with a lot of staff. Even a hotel ... and a terrific
view on Mount Erebus.
 
 \%/@rd 

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 * Origin: Many Glacier -o=O=o- Preserve - Protect - Conserve (2:292/854)