Chile's President Gabriel Boric Font Friday became the first Latin American leader and the third worldwide to reach the South Pole, thus consolidating his country's commitment to Antarctica. His feat followed in the footsteps of those authorities from New Zealand in 2007 and Norway in 2011. Boric dubbed his trip “a diplomatic, scientific, environmental and aeronautical milestone.” It also Chile as “the gateway to Antarctica,” he said.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font's trip to the South Pole was confirmed Thursday by the La Moneda Palace in Santiago after its feasibility had been questioned due to poor weather. The journey between Jan. 2 and 4, will include other officials as well as a scientific team to tour the Union Glacier Joint Scientific Polar Station and the Amundsen-Scott Base.
Last year might have meant a battle won against inflation by the Libertarian administration of President Javier Milei. Still, it also represented a significant wage loss for most Argentines if not the disappearance of their livelihoods altogether as it happened to temporary State workers whose contracts were not renewed as customary under previous governments.
The Commander of the British Forces South Atlantic Islands, BFSAI, with HQ at the Falkland Islands Mount Pleasant Complex, Brigadier Duff has been visiting the most isolated teams, such as remote mountain radar heads to wish them a Merry Christmas and offer his personal thanks in the form of a Christmas hamper.
Argentina's Coast Guard (PNA) Thursday issued a statement explaining how it is monitoring the displacement of the A23a iceberg, which was reported to be headed for the South Georgia Islands.
According to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the 3,600 square kilometer iceberg known as A23a broke off from Antarctica and was reportedly going adrift in the South Atlantic, probably towards South Georgia Island. It is arguably the world's largest and oldest iceberg, with ice sheets 400 meters thick, and weighing almost one billion tons.
Russia's Vostok Base in Antarctica has opened a new winter complex, the Institute of Arctic and Antarctic Studies (AARI) said in a statement: ”A new winter complex has been put into operation at the Vostok station in Central Antarctica (...) The new polar house will be used for the first time by the participants of the 70th Russian Antarctic expedition of the Institute of Arctic and Antarctic Studies,” the document mentioned.
The Government of Argentina celebrated Sunday the 65th Anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty which, Buenos Aires insisted in a statement, established the exclusively peaceful use of Antarctica and promoted scientific cooperation on the sixth continent.
The California based Schmidt Ocean Institute (*) has announced its 2025 expedition schedule will take it to the South Atlantic Ocean, including Antarctica, South Georgia, Patagonian shelf, Mar del Plata and Uruguay.
Scientists will study the impact of tourism and climate change on one of the world’s most unique and fragile environments during a Royal Navy expedition to Antarctica.