File:Congressional delegation visits Antarctica (19112947198).jpg

Ten members of the U.S. House of Representatives, accompanied by NSF staff, visited U.S Antarctic Program (USAP) facilities in Antarctica in December 2014. NSF manages the USAP, through which it coordinates U.S. scientific research in Antarctica and the surrounding oceans, and provides logistical support. Led by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, the congressional delegation was there to observe federally funded science research conducted in Antarctica. The congressional delegation visited the Long Duration Balloon Facility near McMurdo Station, the McMurdo Dry Valleys, the penguin colony at Cape Royds and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Because the ice sheet over the South Pole moves about seven meters every year, the marker for the geographic South Pole is repositioned annually. Pictured above is the marker with the date of January 1, 2014 placed at exactly 90 degrees South.

See the news page www.nsf.gov/news/index.jsp?org=PLR&news_type=0 of the Division of Polar Programs, in NSF’s Directorate for Geosciences, for stories about polar research.