Scientists Simply Moved the South Pole. Right here’s Why
Antarctica’s New Yr’s celebration is in contrast to some other: each January 1 scientists bodily transfer the South Pole. Because of this
Flags mark the ceremonial South Pole.
Galen Rowell/Getty Photos
Because the world rang in 2026, scientists in Antarctica did one thing many people may assume can be inconceivable: they moved the South Pole.
After we envision the South Pole, we have a tendency to consider a hard and fast level on Earth. However it’s extra fluid than you may suppose. For starters, the geographic South Pole is located on the southern tip of Earth’s axis, just about proper in the course of Antarctica. However this place on our planet doesn’t coincide with Earth’s magnetic or geomagnetic South Poles—these are associated to the planet’s magnetic subject and are situated on the Adélie Coast and close to Russia’s Vostok Station, respectively. As a result of Earth’s magnetic subject adjustments together with shifts within the planet’s core, each of those poles are consistently transferring.
What the scientists did wasn’t associated to the magnetic subject, nevertheless. They moved the marker caught within the ice above the geographic South Pole. Technically, this pole doesn’t transfer. However the marker should: the ice flows about 10 meters a yr, so yearly, it must be put again.
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The Antarctic ice sheet is actually a really slow-moving frozen river, with ice flowing from the center of Antarctica out to sea. Warming ocean waters which might be lapping away on the ice on the continent’s coast are destabilizing some glaciers; in the event that they collapse, they might considerably increase international sea ranges.
This yr employees from the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station held the New Yr’s ceremony, full with a stuffed penguin, bagpipes and a newly unveiled marker.
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