Desarrollo de la Antártica

Phillip Law / POSSIBILlTIES FOR EXPLOITATlON OF ANTARCTIC RESOURCES summer when the pack ice permitted their approaoh would then have to connect up to the sea-bed reservoirs and pump the oH into their tan'ks. No doubt the operations would have to conform with severe environmental safety precautions to prevent the spillage oi oil. Manganese nodules -whidh are of interest mainl,y becauS¡e of their cobalt, nickel and copper content- have been reported from the deep ocean floor (between 1000m and 5000m depth) of the Southem ¡Pacific Ocean in a belt abaut 500 :km wide near latitude 60 0 S. They probably occur in a similar latítude all around Antarc– tica but their composition and concentrations are such that they are unlikely to attract commercial interest for a very long time. WATER RESOURCES Well, that doesn's sound very encouraging. What resources exist in the Antarctic, other than minerals, for which we might find a use? Tlhere is one ~hat might sorne day be of importance which is seldom mentioned - water. Wíth the rapid growth of industrialisation and the fantastic increase in the world's population, one might ex.pect that in sorne not·too-distant future the question of adequate water for man's needs will arise. Antarctica represents the largest existing reservoir oE fresfh water. In has been estimated that the Continent is covered by more than 7,000,00n cubic miles of ice. Admittedly, the water is frozen, and immense quantities of :heat energy would be required to melt it, but nevertheless there it is and sorne day this might be important. For example, when problems such as 1 have outlined aboye are capable oE economical solution and it is possible to set up human communities in Antarctica, there may be some argument for. placing new industrial establishments down there where adequate water exists. On the other hand it might prove more economical to distil seawater in temperate climates. IMany years ago someone proposed that an iceberg be towed from Antarctica to Los Angeles where it could be c:hopped up to provide ice for che ice-boxes of the pOlpulation. This was before the advent of ihousehold refrigerators. ,More recently lihe idea has been revived for a different purpose. In about 1962 1 had a visit from two American busÍnessmen who seriously proposed setting up a farming community on a stretch of desert land in Westem Australia on the Great ~"-ustralian Bigbt and towing icebergs from Antarctica to provide the water for the