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Story: Antarctica and New Zealand

The South Pole

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The South Pole

Nigel Roberts, author of Te Ara's Antarctic entry, stands at the geographic South Pole in front of the flags of the Antarctic Treaty countries. In the background is the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. The area is exceptionally dry, cold and windy. Its isolation, environmental purity and seismic stability allow research into regional and global climate systems, upper-atmosphere physics, earth movement and geomagnetic phenomena (such as auroras, induced electrical currents, and radio wave communication interference). Much of the research is done collaboratively.

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Roberts family

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How to cite this page

Nigel Roberts, Antarctica and New Zealand – The Antarctic Treaty, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/37207/the-south-pole (accessed 3 June 2026).

Story by Nigel Roberts, published 12 June 2012.