Chapter 518 Gradually Expanding
Dumont d'Urville stood inside.
The scientific expedition team, which received a large number of packages, is sorting these things out. After all, these are food for the next few months.
After unpacking the insulated boxes of fruits and vegetables, a team member looked at the labels on the other insulated boxes and said, "Chief, why are there so few fruits and vegetables? With so many of us, this amount of fruits and vegetables won't last us a week, right?"
Marvin was busy sorting out the incubator of carrots. "The SEAL Station will deliver vegetables and fruits once a week. Don't worry."
"I see. That's great." The team member picked up a cucumber, wiped it, and started eating it.
It is very difficult to eat fresh fruits and vegetables in Antarctica. In the past, they could only eat fresh fruits and vegetables when the supply ship came. After that, they could only eat canned fruits, freeze-dried vegetables, and vitamin tablets.
"Chief, can the supplies at the SEAL station be maintained for a long time?" Some team members were more concerned about the future.
"It should be possible!" Marvin didn't dare to guarantee it. After all, it was difficult to predict whether the Sapiens Company would fight with the Europa .
“ May the world have peace!”
"The Sapiens Company is really rich. They actually send fresh fruits and vegetables to the seal station every week."
“It may not be sent from outside, it may also be grown by the seal station itself.”
Everyone was chatting away, and although many people did not have a good impression of the Sapiens company, they were not obsessed with it.
Dr. Vichy, who was not involved in the material sorting work, was at the snow collector on the roof, recording the 12-hour snowfall.
The assistant took a flashlight and carefully observed the six snow collectors on the roof.
"Doc, 3.2mm of snow fell in 12 hours."
Dr. Vichy wrote down this data in his notebook, and then he looked at the total snowfall so far this year, which had reached 266.9 mm.
According to records from the past few decades, the average annual snowfall in the edge of the Antarctic continental shelf is around 500 mm, with the months with the most snowfall being the winter from April to November.
Obviously the scale of snowfall has increased this year.
This is the third consecutive year that Antarctica has seen positive snowfall.
Dr. Vichy is somewhat worried about this situation, especially considering the abnormal extreme weather around the world this year, which makes him even more uneasy.
Increased snowfall means that the thickness of the Antarctic ice sheet will continue to increase.
The expansion of the ice sheet area will expand the reflective area of the ice surface, which will in turn increase the scale of the Earth's reflection of solar radiation, which will cause the polar temperatures to drop further.
A further drop in polar temperatures will lead to a decrease in the evaporation of water from the ice layer.
The ice sheets at the North and South Poles will become thicker and larger in area.
When a large amount of fresh water is fixed in the ice sheets several thousand meters thick at the North and South Poles, it will inevitably lead to a gradual drop in sea level. Large-scale sea retreat is no longer a concept but is about to become a reality.
Dr. Vichy felt a little helpless. He turned his head and looked at the SEAL station not far away.
In the Aurora.
The seal station is like a huge city.
No, this is a city.
Unlike the Dumont d'Urville Station, which relies solely on icebreakers for supplies, the core supply method of the SEAL Station is the sky elevator.
The 16 cables are divided into 4 groups. Relying on the airship platform at an altitude of 20,000 meters, these cables are pulled to keep them firmly taut and not be disturbed by the polar winds.
The 4 sets of cables are 4 elevators, which can operate 4 elevator cabins.
In addition, Dr. Vichy also knew that the underground part of the SEAL station must have penetrated deep into the underground rock formations, otherwise it would not be so stable.
Many Antarctic research stations, especially those on the edge of the shelf ice sheet, face a life-and-death dilemma.
That is the breaking of the ice layer, which causes the movement of the glacier.
At that time, the British Antarctic research station did not pay attention to this problem, which resulted in the entire station and the fault zone glacier becoming an iceberg floating freely on the sea.
Therefore, in order to cope with this situation, if a scientific research station is to be built on the ice sheet at the edge of the continental shelf, a scientific research station that can be moved quickly (similar to an RV) must be used.
But the SEAL station is obviously not like this, but is set up directly here.
Based on Dr. Vichy's experience, he was very sure that the SEAL station must have broken through 2,200 meters of ice and laid its foundation in the underground rock.
Only in this way can we effectively resist the displacement caused by the breaking of the ice layer.
Of course, without the technology of Sapiens, it would be difficult to build such an ultra-deep foundation.
Standing on the roof, Dr. Vichy looked at the brightly lit SEAL station, feeling somewhat complicated and powerless.
At this time, inside the seal station.
Mao Dan, who had just escorted daily necessities to the Dimon D'Urville Station, was in the base commander's office, reporting the situation to the base commander, Sindisi.
“…I used the excuse that the base had no fuel to get them to accept the transmission plan .”
Sindici was very satisfied: "Well done, we have taken control of their energy and supplies. From now on, they will have no control over it."
It can be seen from the holographic map on one side that there are currently several scientific research stations of the four major forces in the entire Wilkes Land.
Without exception, these scientific research stations are surrounded by the scientific research stations of the Sapiens Company.
In order to completely occupy the entire Wilkes Land, the Sapiens Company made a lot of small moves. In addition to closely protecting the scientific research stations of the four major forces, it also established a large number of new scientific research stations.
These research stations are set up every 50 kilometers. Through this method of land grabbing, the Sapiens Company has now completely controlled the entire Wilkes Land.
Deep underground in these research stations is the most important gold production area of the Sapiens Company, which produces about 200 tons of gold each month.
This secret is worthy of the attention that Sapiens takes so seriously.
Wilkes' underground mine is still continuing to expand production, and it is expected that the gold production capacity will be increased to about 400 tons per month by the end of this year.
Xindisi looked at the climate analysis report in his hand and said, "Mao Dan, you should strengthen the monitoring of the Dimon Diville Station in the near future, and also pay more attention to weather changes."
"A change in weather? Snow?"
“It’s not just snowfall, it’s glacier activity.”
"Glacier activity?" Mao Dan understood immediately.
As an investigator at the SEAL research station, he naturally knew the situation in Antarctica.
Since Antarctica is different from the Arctic Ocean, the underground here is rock. If the snowfall continues to increase, it will inevitably lead to the weight of the Antarctic ice sheet continuing to increase.
The increased weight of the ice sheet can cause glaciers to slide and can even trigger earthquakes.
Maung Dan left Sindici's office and went back to prepare to use the magnetic field detector to strengthen monitoring of geological changes throughout Antarctica.
Meanwhile, Cindy was thinking about the list of materials that she would need to apply for from the head office next.
Especially in terms of strengthening various scientific research stations and underground bases, the head office is required to provide a batch of exclusive equipment and parts.
After all, as time goes by, the Antarctic ice sheet may expand and thicken in the future, and it may also trigger various geological disasters.
Reinforcement work is urgent.
In fact, Sapiens Company’s other bases in Antarctica are also gradually improving the structural strength of the bases, especially the secret base that is part of the Ice Prison Project.
Over in the Arctic Ocean, the situation is similar to that in Antarctica, with increasing snowfall and thickening and expansion of the ice sheet.
May and June are destined to be a bustling season.
