To the casual observer the vast Antarctic ice cap itself 
may appear to be of only technical or scientific interest; 
this is not true. Inasmuch as nearly ninety per cent of all 
of the land ice in the world lies in Antarctica, changes in 
the volume and thickness of the ice are matters of universal 
concern. The return of only a few feet of thickness of ice 
to the oceans by melting would have serious effects in many 
places. If all of the ice melted into the sea, its level would 
rise perhaps two or three hundred feet, submerging all of 
the world’s densely populated coastal lowlands and all of 
its seaports. Great changes in the volume of Antarctic ice 
have taken place in the past and may recur. ‘That such 
changes may not happen with catastrophic suddenness 
does not mean that they are not of practical concern to man 
if he expects the earth to support his progeny for thousands 
of years. 
Borings are being made into the Antarctic ice right now 
which will be studied in great detail. ‘They may reveal 
layers that will show us the succession of stages involved in 
the formation of the ice. They may give us much more 
accurate clues to climate of the past centuries than are to 
be derived in any other way. Similar observations might 
be made about the peculiar importance of cosmic rays, 
ionospheric physics, aurora and airglow, geomagnetism, 
and seismology in Antarctica. There is not time to give 
you details about these. 
Currently the IGY program in Antarctica is imple- 
mented by forty-eight stations established by twelve coun- 
tries. The United States has six major scientific stations 
in addition to its great central logistic naval facility at 
McMurdo Sound. One of these stations at Cape Hallett is 
operated jointly with New Zealand. 
26 
