The Navy's great Antarctic expedition ploughed southward last week. It would bolster U.S. territorial claims,* investigate sites for military bases, train personnel to cope with icecap conditions. But it would also study the almost unknown Antarctic continent with elaborate, modern instruments.
Antarctica is about the size of Europe and the U.S. put together, and most of it has never been seen by the human eye. Most, but not all of it is covered with level, monotonous névé (permanent snowfield feeding the continent's icecap). In many places, great peaks stick up through the ice,...
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