Antarctic and Southern Ocean scientific research has produced a wide array of important and exciting scientific advances. Spanning oceanography to tectonics, microbiology to astrophysics, the extreme Antarctic environment provides unique opportunities to expand our knowledge about how our planet works and even the very origins of the universe. Research on the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic ice sheets is becoming increasingly urgent not only for understanding the future of the region but also its interconnections with and impacts on many other parts of the globe. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) provides U.S. researchers with broad access to the continent and its surrounding ocean. A Strategic Vision for NSF Investments in Antarctic and Southern Ocean Research identifies priorities and strategic steps forward for Antarctic research and observations for the next decade. This survey presents a decadal vision for strategic investments in compelling research and the infrastructure most critical for supporting this research. This report makes recommendations for high-priority, larger-scale, community-driven research initiatives that address questions poised for significant advance with the next decades. This report also outlines a roadmap through which the vision and these priorities can be met.

The U.S. Antarctic Program : achieving fiscal and logistical efficiency while supporting sound science : hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, second session, Thursday, November 15, 2012.

"This document represents the final report of the United States Antarctic Program External Panel. The report has the unanimous approval of all 11 panel members and draws upon our collective experience which includes some 44 individual trips to Antarctica involving visits to all three U. S. stations, each research ship, support icebreakers and numerous field sites. As a panel, we visited McMurdo Station and South Pole Station and toured support facilities at Christchurch. We received approximately 70 briefings and conducted 80 “one-on-one” meetings with individuals involved in virtually all aspects of the Antarctic Program. Over 200 inputs were received in response to our request for “public comments". During visits to McMurdo and the Pole, the Panel conducted informal “Town Meetings” and was the beneficiary of numerous comments by members of those communities having first-hand experience in day-to-day operations. We are most appreciative of the candor and professionalism with which we were treated by all those with whom we came into contact, and in particular the members of the National Science Foundation who so expertly and constructively supported our efforts. We believe the U. S. Antarctic Program is well managed, involves high quality science and is important to the region as well as to the United States. We also believe that in the current budget environment, costs must be reduced, preferably through increased efficiency and “reinvention,” but, if not, through reduced scope. Recommendations are offered herein to help ensure the continued viability of the program into the 21st century."--

The U.S. Antarctic Program : achieving fiscal and logistical efficiency while supporting sound science : hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, second session, Thursday, November 15, 2012.

The thawing Antarctic continent offers living space and marine and mineral resources that were previously inaccessible. This book discusses how revisiting the Antarctic Treaty System and dividing up the continent preemptively could spare the world serious conflict. The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements—collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS)—regulate the seventh continent, which is the only continent without a native human population. The main treaty within the ATS came into force in 1961 and suspended all territorial claims in Antarctica. The Antarctic Environmental Protocol followed in 1998 and prohibited any minerals exploitation in the continent. With this prohibition up for review in 2048, this book asks whether the Antarctic Treaty can continue to protect Antarctica. Doaa Abdel-Motaal—an expert on environmental issues who has traveled through the Arctic and Antarctic—explains that the international community must urgently turn its attention to examining how to divide up the thawing continent in a peaceful manner. She discusses why the Antarctic Treaty is unlikely to be an adequate measure in the face of international competition for invaluable resources in the 21st century. She argues that factors such as global warming, the growth in climate refugees that the world is about to witness, and the increasingly critical quest for energy resources will make the Antarctic continent a highly sought-after objective. Readers will come to appreciate that what has likely protected Antarctica so far was not the Antarctic Treaty but the continent's harsh climate and isolation. With Antarctica potentially becoming habitable only a few decades from now, revisiting the Antarctic Treaty in favor of an orderly division of the continent is likely to be the best plan for avoiding costly conflict.