A VISIT AT ENCELADUS' PLUME (NASA-JPL)

This graphic shows how the ice particles and water vapor observed spewing from geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus may be related to liquid water beneath the surface. The large number of ice particles and the rate at which they are produced require high temperatures, close to the melting point of water. These warm temperatures indicate that there may be an internal lake of liquid water at or near the moon's south pole, where the geysers are present.

This internal lake could be similar to Earth's Lake Vostok, where liquid water is locked in ice beneath Antarctica. The presence of liquid water inside Enceladus would have major implications for future studies of the possibility of life in the outer solar system.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

IMAGE: NASA-JPL

65% des Japonais soutiennent la chasse à la baleine -AFP

TOKYO (AFP) — Quelque 65% des Japonais soutiennent la pêche à la baleine à but "scientifique" et 56% se disent prêts à en manger, malgré les critiques autour de la campagne de chasse japonaise dans l'Antarctique, selon un sondage paru vendredi dans le quotidien Asahi.

Selon cette enquête, près de deux tiers des Japonais (65%) sont d'accord pour que leur pays poursuive ses opérations baleinières "scientifiques", 21% étant contre.

Le caractère "scientifique" de la pêche est avancé par les autorités japonaises pour justifier leur chasse à la baleine, ce qui leur permet de contourner le moratoire international décrété sur la pêche commerciale depuis 1986.

Quelque 56% des personnes interrogées se disent en outre prêts à manger de la baleine, contre 26% qui y sont opposés.

D'une manière générale, ce sont les hommes âgés qui soutiennent davantage la pêche à la baleine et sa consommation, alors que les femmes jeunes y sont les plus opposées, selon l'enquête.

Ce sondage a été réalisé par téléphone les 2 et 3 février auprès de 2.082 Japonais, soit quelques jours avant la diffusion d'images par le gouvernement australien montrant une baleine et un baleineau tués par les pêcheurs japonais et hissés à bord de leur navire dans l'Antarctique, où une flotte japonaise mène depuis plusieurs semaines une campagne visant à tuer un millier de cétacés d'ici avril.

Le gouvernement australien, qui souhaite lancer une procédure judiciaire internationale contre la pêche à la baleine japonaise, a affirmé que les deux cétacés étaient une mère et son petit, ce qu'ont démenti les autorités du Japon.

PLUS JAMAIS CA!

Même une mère et son petit...massacrés....! Quand la viande de baleine sera-t-elle INTERDITE sur les marchés?? Ce que fait la flotte de baleiniers japonais dans l'Océan Austral est accablant et révoltant.

SYDNEY (AFP) — Le gouvernement australien a affirmé jeudi détenir des photos accablantes de chasse à la baleine, qui pourraient venir appuyer une action en justice contre la pêche japonaise en Antarctique, des documents qualifiés de "propagande" mensongère par les Japonais.

L'une des photos montre une femelle et son petit en train d'être hissés à bord d'un baleinier japonais, après avoir été harponnés.

"Quand j'ai vu ces photos, j'ai eu des hauts le coeur et en même temps, j'ai éprouvé un sentiment de grande tristesse", a déclaré le ministre de l'Environnement australien, Peter Garrett, l'ancien chanteur du groupe de rock Midnight Oil.

"C'est vraiment accablant quand vous pensez qu'il faut jusqu'à quinze minutes pour qu'une baleine succombe après avoir été harponnée. C'est encore pire de voir qu'il y a un baleineau", a-t-il également déclaré.

La profonde blessure du jeune cétacé, appartenant à l'espèce des baleines de Mink, qui a répandu une mare de sang dans la cale du navire, semble avoir été causée par un harpon à explosifs.

Cette série de photos a été prise à partir d'un bâtiment des Douanes australien qui suit en ce moment les baleiniers japonais dans les eaux de l'Antarctique, dans l'objectif de recueillir des éléments pour soutenir une action judiciaire internationale.

"Elles vont nous aider à bâtir la procédure dont les détails sont encore en cours d'examen, afin de dire que la chasse aux baleines doit s'arrêter", a déclaré à la presse le ministre en charge des douanes, Bob Debus.

Côté japonais, l'institut de recherche sur les cétacés a répliqué en accusant l'Australie de mener une campagne de "propagande jouant sur l'émotion".

Le directeur de cet institut financé par le gouvernement japonais et partie prenante de la chasse à la baleine, Minoru Morimoto, a prévenu que l'attitude australienne "pourrait provoquer de graves dommages" aux relations entre les deux pays.

Il a assuré que les deux baleines de la photo n'étaient "pas une mère et son petit", jugeant important de ne pas "tromper l'opinion australienne en diffusant de fausses informations".

L'Australie est l'un des pays fer de lance de la lutte contre la chasse aux baleines du Japon. Tokyo exploite une faille dans le moratoire sur la pêche commerciale de 1986, en arguant que ses prises ont des visées scientifiques.

Des baleiniers japonais croisent dans l'Antarctique depuis décembre pour tuer un millier de cétacés. Ils ont été contraints de suspendre leur campagne à la mi-janvier pendant plusieurs jours, sous la pression de défenseurs des baleines venus dans la zone. Ils ont depuis repris leur pêche, les navires des écologistes ayant dû repartir faute de carburant.

PHOTOS ET TEXTE: Agence France Presse

LE PREMIER MINISTRE JAPONAIS SOUTIENT LA CHASSE A' LA BALEINE EN ANTARCTIQUE

TOKYO, 24 jan 2008 (AFP) — Le Premier ministre japonais, Yasuo Fukuda, a soutenu la campagne de pêche à la baleine menée par son pays, soulignant que cette chasse à but "scientifique" devait être "expliquée" à l'opinion internationale, dans une interview à la BBC.

Une campagne de pêche du Japon dans l'Antarctique pour tuer un millier de cétacés fait l'objet de protestations depuis plusieurs semaines, de la part d'Etats, notamment l'Australie, et d'associations écologistes qui tentent de perturber les opérations baleinières.

"Je ne pense pas qu'il soit judicieux que les discussions prennent un tour émotionnel, au regard de l'action violente menée récemment contre un navire scientifique japonais", a expliqué M. Fukuda à la BBC, dans une interview diffusée jeudi sur son site internet.

Il a ajouté que "si cela devait conduire à un débat de plus en plus chargé d'émotion, cela serait très malheureux".

"Nous devons donc essayer de poursuivre nos efforts afin d'expliquer que nous sommes engagés dans cette activité de pêche à la baleine pour des raisons scientifiques", a poursuivi le Premier ministre.

Le ministre japonais des Affaires étrangères, Masahiko Komura, a demandé aux autorités australiennes d'intenter des poursuites contre deux militants de l'association écologiste australienne Sea Sheperd qui s'étaient introduits, à la mi-janvier, sur un baleinier japonais en signe de protestation.

Sea Sheperd a envoyé un bateau dans l'Antarctique pour gêner la pêche, à l'instar de l'association Greenpeace.

L'Etat australien a lui aussi envoyé un bateau dans la zone, et son équipage filme et photographie l'activité des baleiniers pour prouver qu'ils ne respectent pas le droit international, selon un responsable des autorités.

La Commission baleinière internationale interdit la chasse commerciale à la baleine mais autorise les chasses à vocation scientifique selon des quotas précis.

Une tolérance utilisée par les autorités japonaises pour justifier leur campagne de pêche dans l'Antarctique.

SOURCE: AFP

EXPLORATION OF SUBGLACIAL LAKE ELLSWORTH

BAS Press release, January 15, 2008

A four-man science team led by British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Dr Andy Smith has begun exploring an ancient lake hidden deep beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet. The lake – the size of Lake Windermere (UK) – could yield vital clues to life on Earth, climate change and future sea-level rise.

Glaciologist Dr Smith and his colleagues from the Universities of Edinburgh and Northumbria are camped out at one of the most remote places on Earth conducting a series of experiments on the ice. He says,

“This is the first phase of what we think is an incredibly exciting project. We know the lake is 3.2km beneath the ice; long and thin and around 18 km2 in area. First results from our experiments have shown the lake is 105m deep. This means Lake Ellsworth is a deep-water body and confirms the lake as an ideal site for future exploration missions to detect microbial life and recover climate records.

“If the survey work goes well, the next phase will be to build a probe, drill down into the lake and explore and sample the lake water. The UK could do this as soon as 2012/13.”

This ambitious exploration of ‘subglacial’ Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica, involves scientists from 14 UK universities and research institutes, as well as colleagues from Chile, USA, Sweden, Belgium, Germany and New Zealand. The International Polar Year* project Principal Investigator is Professor Martin Siegert from the University of Edinburgh. He says, “We are particularly interested in Lake Ellsworth because it’s likely to have been isolated from the surface for hundreds of thousands of years. Radar measurements made previously from aircraft surveys suggest that the lake is connected to others that could drain ice from the West Antarctic Ice sheet to the ocean and contribute to sea-level rise.”

Professor Siegert is already planning the lake’s future exploration. He continues,

“Around 150 lakes have been discovered beneath Antarctica’s vast ice sheet and so far little is known about them. Getting into the lake is a huge technological challenge but the effort is worth it. These lakes are important for a number of reasons. For example, because water acts as a lubricant to the ice above they may influence how the ice sheet flows. Their potential for unusual life forms could shed new light on evolution of life in harsh conditions; lake-floor sediments could yield vital clues to past climate. They can also help us understand the extraterrestrial environment of Europa (one of the moons of Jupiter).”

Issued jointly by British Antarctic Survey, University of Edinburgh and Northumbria University

ILLUSTRATION:

Diagram showing the exploration of subglacial Lake Ellsworth - BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEY

ANTARCTICA: MASSIVE VOLCANIC ERUPTION 2.000 YEARS AGO

AFP- January 20, 2008

A powerful volcano erupted under the icesheet of West Antarctica around 2,000 years ago and it might still be active today, a finding that prompts questions about ice loss from the white continent, British scientists report.

The explosive event - rated "severe" to "cataclysmic" on an international scale of volcanic force - punched a massive breach in the icesheet and spat out a plume some 12,000 metres into the sky, they calculate.

Most of Antarctica is seismically stable. But its western part lies on a rift in Earth's crust that gives rise to occasional volcanism and geothermal heat, occurring on the Antarctic coastal margins.

This is the first evidence for an eruption under the ice sheet itself - the slab of frozen water, hundreds of metres thick in places, that holds most of the world's stock of fresh water.

Reporting in the journal Nature Geoscience today, the investigators from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) describe the finding as "unique."

The volcano, located in the Hudson Mountains, blew around 207 BC, plus or minus 240 years, according to the paper.

Evidence for this comes from a British-American airborne geophysical survey in 2004-5 that used radar to delve deep under the ice sheet to map the terrain beneath.

The researchers spotted anomalous radar reflections over 23,000 square kilometres, an area bigger than Wales. They interpret this signal as being a thick layer of ash, rock and glass, formed from fused silica, that the volcano spewed out in its fury.

"We believe this was the biggest eruption in Antarctica during the last 10,000 years," BAS' Hugh Corr says.

"It blew a substantial hole in the icesheet and generated a plume of ash and gas that rose around 12 kms into the air."

The eruption occurred close to the massive Pine Island Glacier, an area where movement of glacial ice towards the sea has been accelerating alarmingly in recent decades.

"It may be possible that heat from the volcano has caused some of that acceleration," says BAS professor David Vaughan, who stresses though that global warming is by far the greater likelier cause.

Volcanic heat "cannot explain the more widespread thinning of West Antarctic glaciers that together are contributing nearly 0.2mm per year to sea-level rise," he adds.

"This wider change most probably has its origin in warming ocean waters."
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PARIS (AFP) — Un volcan, dont l'éruption la plus récente remonterait à seulement 2.300 ans, a été découvert sous la glace dans la partie occidentale de l'Antarctique, rapportent deux scientifiques britanniques dans la revue Nature Geoscience.

Le volcan subglaciaire des Monts d'Hudson, en terre d'Ellsworth, près du glacier de Pine Island, a été décelé par l'étude de données radar obtenues par avion, qui ont montré une profonde couche de cendres enterrée dans la glace entre 100 et 700 m de profondeur et couvrant quelque 23.000 km2.

Ces "téphras", cendres et roches éjectées dans l'air, sont répartis sur une surface elliptique de 156 km sur 190 km, ce qui montre, soulignent les scientifiques, qu'il n'y a eu "qu'une seule éruption" et qu'il y avait peu de vent lorqu'elle s'est produite, entre 240 et 207 ans avant notre ère.

Les auteurs de l'étude, Hugh Corr et David Vaughan, du British Antarctic Survey de Cambridge (Angleterre), estiment que la chaleur dégagée par l'éruption a provoqué une fonte des glaces localement, ce qui a dû influer sur l'écoulement des glaciers environnants.

Cette découverte, soulignent ses auteurs, est particulièrement intéressante en ce qu'elle peut apporter des éléments de compréhension concernant la stabilité de la calotte glaciaire antarctique, dans le passé, le présent et l'avenir.

Le volcan le plus important en Antarctique, toujours actif, est le mont Erebus (3.794 m), situé sur l'île de Ross.

ON FAIT DE LA RECHERCHE, AVEC UN HARPON!

Voici une image d'un des baleiniers japonais qui se trouve actuellement dans le Sanctuaire de l'Océan austral pour massacrer MILLE petits rorquals. La chasee à la baleine est INTERDITE dans le Sanctuaire. Sur le flanc du vaisseau nous lisons le mot "RESEARCH", mais sur la proue - on le voit bien - il y a un harpon explosif, qui sert à TUER les baleines. Cet harpon est tiré dans le corps ou dans la tête de la baleine, où il explose. Imaginez la souffrance des mammifères marins, surtout quand ils ne sont pas tués sur le coup. Imaginez leur agonie. Le cétacé est ensuite remonté à bord du navire "de recherche" et dépécé. MILLE baleines massacrées pour "la recherche", cela est déplorable. POURQUOI n'arrive-t-on pas à arrêter ce massacre?? Y-a t-il vraiment besoin de manger de la viande de baleine?

PHOTO DU NAVIRE JAPONAIS: Xinhua/AFP.

DEDICATION CEREMONY AT THE SOUTH POLE

January 15, 2008 (NSF Press release 08-006)

The United States has dedicated a new scientific station at the geographic South Pole--the third since 1957--officially ushering in a new support system for sophisticated large-scale experiments in disciplines ranging from astrophysics to environmental chemistry and seismology.

The dedication of the new Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, which took place on Sat., Jan. 12, local time (U.S. stations in Antarctica keep New Zealand time), also reasserts the National Science Foundation's (NSF) vital role in managing the U.S. Antarctic Program in order to meet the needs of the U.S. research community as well as those of other federal agencies. NSF manages the U.S. Antarctic Program.

Arden L. Bement Jr., NSF director, spoke to an assembled group of dignitaries as the American flag was raised over the new elevated station. Just hours before, the stars and stripes had been struck for the last time over the iconic domed station adjacent to the new building, which had served as the U.S. scientific outpost at the South Pole since the mid-1970's. In attendance were heads of federal agencies with a scientific presence at the Pole and others who played key roles in the design and completion of the project.

"Our purpose is to dedicate a facility that will help us push back the boundaries of the unknown--a quest that has continued year-round at this site for over 50 years," Bement said. "And to pay our respects to those who helped transform this mysterious and forbidding continent into a globally recognized place of wonder, transformation and knowledge."

Bement also remarked on the contributions to polar exploration of New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary, who died at the age of 88 just hours before the ceremony. "It is fitting that we pause for a moment to remember the accomplishments of Sir Edmund Hillary, who stood near this very spot in January 1958, the first person to do so since Robert Falcon Scott in 1912," he said. "I was honored to meet him at the 50^th anniversary of the building of New Zealand's Scott Base in 2007, an accomplishment for which he was responsible. I cannot help but believe that he is here with us in spirit today as we usher in this new phase of scientific exploration of the continent which he so loved."

Bement was joined at the ceremony by two former NSF directors: Neal Lane, senior fellow in science and technology policy at Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, and Rita Colwell, chairman of Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc. and distinguished professor both at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health.

NSF is responsible for the operation of the new station as well as the reconstruction and associated environmental upgrades.

Also in attendance at the ceremony were:

• Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• Jay M. Cohen, undersecretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security
• Alexander Karsner, assistant secretary for energy and renewable energy at the Department of Energy
• Paula J. Dobriansky, undersecretary for democracy and global affairs at the State Department
• Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
• Patricia J. Walker, deputy assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, materiel and facilities
• Kathy Sullivan, vice chair of the National Science Board
• Maj. Gen. Robert A. Knauff, chief of staff and commander N.Y. Air National Guard
• Col. Ron Smith, U.S. Air Force, commander of Operation Deep Freeze, the military support for the U.S. Antarctic Program
• Karl A. Erb, director of NSF's Office of Polar Programs
• Norman Augustine, chairman, and Susan Solomon, NOAA scientist and member of the blue-ribbon panel whose report led to the rebuilding of the station

Erb noted that the dedication occurred slightly more than 50 years after men spent the first winter at the Pole in 1957, during the International Geophysical Year (IGY). That first group was an 18-member team of U.S Navy personnel and civilian scientists.

The dedication, Erb added, coming as it does at the height of the International Polar Year (IPY), a concerted scientific field campaign supported by more than 60 nations worldwide which shares many of the IGY goals, has a particular resonance.

Erb also noted that the new station not only is dramatically more technologically and architecturally sophisticated than the 1975 station or its predecessor, but is also almost immeasurably different from the first habitation ever erected at the Pole: a pyramidal tent left as proof of his accomplishment by the first man to reach the site, Norwegian Roald Amundsen, and for Briton Scott, whose party reached the Pole a month later.

The station is named for the two explorers.

The replacement of the South Pole station was given critical support by the external panel chaired by Augustine, who, in a key 1997 report, argued that the existing facilities at the South Pole were both outmoded and potentially unsafe. The report noted that "Antarctica today is a continent generally characterized by peaceful, environmentally friendly, human activity. High among the reasons for this situation is the role played by the U.S. over many years in helping create a system of treaties and international agreements governing the nature of human conduct on the continent. The presence of the U.S. in Antarctica is a key element of the continued stability of the region."

To maintain that stability the panel recommended that the "U.S., as a matter of national policy, should maintain a continued year-round presence in Antarctica, including at the South Pole."

But the panel also found that, at the time, "various critical safety and health deficiencies exist at U.S. facilities in Antarctica, particularly at South Pole Station," and recommended environmental upgrades and reconstruction.

The elevated station is the most imposing structure ever built at the Pole and the 12-year reconstruction required extraordinary effort to complete. It required 925 flights by ski-equipped LC-130 aircraft flown by the N.Y. Air National Guard. At 26,000 pounds of cargo per flight, a total of 24 million pounds of cargo were transported.

In November of 2007, Popular Science magazine named the new station as one of its "Best of What's New" innovations of the year.

________________________________________________________________________________

The National Science Foundation's 12-year effort to construct a new station at the South Pole culminated when the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was dedicated in a ceremony Jan. 12. Among those attending the ceremony were Maj. Gen. Robert A. Knauff, New York Air National Guard chief of staff and commander, and Col. Ron Smith, Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica, Operation Deep Freeze deputy commander.

To deliver the supplies and equipment needed to complete the project, ski-equipped LC-130s flew 925 flights, carrying 24 million points of cargo to the South Pole. The NYANG's 109th Airlift Wing LC-130s are part of JTF-SFA, ODF. LC-130s are based out of McMurdo Station, Antarctica, from October to March to transport personnel and supplies to the South Pole and other research stations throughout Antarctica. ODF is a unique 13th Air Force-led joint and total force mission that has supported the NSF and U.S. Antarctic program since 1955. The U.S. military is uniquely equipped to assist the NSF to accomplish its mission to explore Antarctica.

The Jan. 12 dedication occurred more than 50 years after an 18-member team of U.S Navy personnel and civilian scientists spent the first winter at the Pole in 1957. The new station is named after two explorers--the first man to reach the site, Norwegian Roald Amundsen, and Briton Robert F. Scott, whose party reached the Pole a month later.

SOURCE: http://www.pacaf.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123082179

PHOTOS: TOP, Peter Rejcek/National Science Foundation; MIDDLE: National Science Foundation Director Arden Bement raising the US and US Antarctic Program flags over the new elevated station at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Peter Rejcek/ National Science Foundation; MIDDLE: The ceremonial pole and flags of the 12 original signatory nations of the Antarctic Treaty are moved as part of the new elevated station dedication ceremony. Leading the procession with the US flag is National Science Foundation South Pole Representative Jerry Marty/Gmlenn Grant/NSF- MIDDLE: Immediately prior to the decommissioning of the geodesic Dome, station personnel gathered for one last group photo. The Dome, which had served as the station since 1975, has been replaced by the new elevated station. PH. GLENN GRANT/NSF -BOTTOM, A crew lowers the US flag for the old South Pole Station Dome for the last time during the decommissioning ceremony.PH. Glenn Grant/National Science Foundation.

IN THE MEMORY OF SIR ED

The first memorial service for Sir Edmund Hillary was held Saturday Jan. 13th in Antarctica, in the Chapel of the Snows in McMurdo station.



Photo: Elaine Hood, US Antarctic Photo Library.

LORD OF THE SNOWS

Editorial from THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD, Saturday January 12th, 2008

nzherald.co.nz
Please see photo credits below.

A lifetime of ceaseless achievement

Sir Edmund Hillary's life will always be remembered for the scaling of two monumental heights.

The first was his ascent of Mt Everest, the world's highest mountain, on May 29, 1953. The second was his unblemished subsequent career of service and high endeavour.

If the feat of Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay in becoming the first men to stand atop Everest turned heads around the world, his head was not about to be turned by the subsequent adulation.

The humility of his reaction endeared the beekeeper's son to the world.

Over time, Sir Edmund cemented his position as the ultimate figure of a nation's pride precisely because he embodied the values and way of life to which most New Zealanders of his, and any other generation, aspire.

He was craggy in countenance and of raw-boned physique in the best tradition of a backcountry farmer, with a character of constancy, modesty and utter determination to succeed.

Those qualities were immediately apparent after the conquest of Everest, one of the defining acts of the 20th century. "We've knocked the bastard off," he said on returning from the summit.
On the cusp of the technological revolution, "Ed", as he liked to be called, and Tenzing had surmounted one of the great challenges remaining to man. Fifteen previous expeditions had tried and failed.

The achievement placed him in the company of the renowned explorers and adventurers who had gone where no other had gone before - the likes of Columbus, Livingston, Amundsen and Lindbergh.

It was at once recognised as such, and Sir Edmund was feted around the world. Yet, unlike some who went before, he was spoiled by neither this recognition nor the similar acclaim that greeted the success of his subsequent expeditions, including, in 1958, the first overland journey to the South Pole since that of Robert Falcon Scott in 1912.

Indeed, reflecting upon his life, Sir Edmund declared that his most worthwhile achievement had been the building of schools, hospitals, medical clinics and airstrips in Nepal.

It was as though conquering Everest had merely laid the foundation for a life's work on behalf of the local Sherpas.

"That has given me more satisfaction than a footprint on a mountain," he said.

He did not, he said, set out to impose projects. "These are all things that the local people wanted, and we just responded."

Therein lay a lesson that many a heavy-handed development agency could take to heart. Even when the thin air of the Himalayas curtailed his visits there, Sir Edmund remained an inveterate fundraiser for health and education projects in Nepal.

His reward was a mana that led to his being hailed in that region as Burra Sahib, literally "Big Sir", but also translated as "big in heart".

It was a heart that was to suffer grievously when his first wife, Louise, and their 16-year-old daughter, Belinda, were killed when a small plane crashed taking off from a Nepalese airstrip in 1975.

If that was the bleakest time of his life, Sir Edmund soldiered on, finding consolation in his work for the Sherpas.

In 1985, he added another string to his bow when he became High Commissioner to India, a four-year appointment which elevated New Zealand's standing and profile on the subcontinent like no other.

Throughout the tumultuous changes of the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st century, his standing among New Zealanders never wavered. Young and old, Pakeha and Maori, recognised him as the nation's flagbearer.

When a Herald-DigiPoll survey asked people to nominate the preferred president of a Republic of New Zealand, Sir Edmund was the choice of Maori and young people.

When the Waikato Polytechnic wanted to attract national and international students, it changed its name to the Edmund Hillary Institute of Technology.

If Sir Edmund's response was typically humble, it also showed a trademark pragmatism.

"I'm not all that keen to have my name on too many things," he said. "But I have a liking for polytechnics because they offer practical training, like the sort of things we do in the Himalayas."

On most occasions, Sir Edmund had little say in the way his name and feats were celebrated throughout the country.

A multitude of streets, roads, places, crescents and squares were named in his honour, probably without consultation in many cases.

The name Hillary also became associated with two Auckland schools.

And when in the mid-1980s the Government of the day established a commission for sport, fitness and leisure, there was little debate about which New Zealander best represented its values, aims and ambitions. It became the Hillary Commission.

In his autobiography, View From The Summit, Sir Edmund revealed that he wanted his ashes scattered not on Everest or another scene of mountaineering triumph but on the Auckland's Waitemata Harbour.

Boating on the sparkling waters had been a favourite pastime of Sir Edmund in his youth, and his life had always led him back to Auckland.

He wanted "to be washed gently ashore, maybe on the many pleasant beaches near the place I was born".

Then, he said, the full circle of his life would be complete. What a life it was.
__________________________________________________________________

British adventurer and environmentalist Pen Hadow said Hillary's death "closes one of the great chapters of planetary exploration".
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PHOTOS: TOP, The New Zealand flag is lowered at Scott Base, January 11, 2008 (PHOTO by. NANCY COX, The Antarctic Sun). MIDDLE, Sir Ed Hillary at McMurdo Station, Nov. 20, 2004, talks via high-frequency radio with Tracy Sheeley, a communications operator at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Hillary led the first team to reach the South Pole by motorized vehicles -- farm tractors -- in 1958. Photograph by: Brien Barnett/National Science Foundation. LOW, Scott Base Station Manager Mike Mahon, far right, escorts New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and Sir Edmund Hillary from a U.S. Air Force C-17 that landed at Pegasus White Ice Runway on January 18. Clark and Hillary were among the dignitaries attending a ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of New Zealand's Scott Base. Photograph by: Peter Rejcek/National Science Foundation, January 17, 2007.

GOODBYE GREAT SIR ED, LORD OF THE SNOWS

RAY LILLEY Associated Press Writer WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)

Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to stand atop the world's highest mountain, was remembered Friday as a deeply driven but unassuming man who strived to help the people of Nepal in the decades after his ascent of Mount Everest. Hillary, who died Friday of a heart attack at 88, will have a state funeral in New Zealand, where he began the mountaineering career that took him and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay to the tallest point on earth, a spokesman for his family said. He is survived by his children Peter and Sarah and wife June, who said Friday that her family was comforted by the messages of support from around the world. She said Hillary had been hospitalized on Monday and died peacefully. "He remained in good spirits until the end," she said. Hillary's life was marked by grand achievements, high adventure, discovery, excitement - but he was especially proud of his decades-long campaign to set up schools and health clinics in Nepal, the homeland of Tenzing Norgay, the mountain guide with whom he stood arm in arm on the 29,035-foot summit of Everest on May 29, 1953. Yet he was humble to the point that he only acknowledged being the first man atop Everest long after the death of Tenzing. He wrote of the pair's final steps to the top of the world: "Another few weary steps and there was nothing above us but the sky. There was no false cornice, no final pinnacle. We were standing together on the summit. There was enough space for about six people. We had conquered Everest. "Awe, wonder, humility, pride, exaltation - these surely ought to be the confused emotions of the first men to stand on the highest peak on Earth, after so many others had failed," Hillary noted. "I removed my oxygen mask to take some pictures. It wasn't enough just to get to the top. We had to get back with the evidence. Fifteen minutes later we began the descent." Then, upon arriving back at base camp, he took an irreverent view: "We knocked the bastard off." But New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, announcing his death, took a grander view of his achievements. "Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only 'knocked off' Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity. ... The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived." Spokesman Mark Sainsbury said Hillary's family had accepted the offer of a state funeral, on a date not yet set. Tributes quickly began flowing. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose nation sponsored the expedition that led to Hillary's triumph, said he "was a truly great hero who captured the imagination of the world, a towering figure who will always be remembered as a pioneer explorer and leader." "Sir Edmund's name is synonymous with adventure, with achievement, with dreaming and then making those dreams come true," said Australia's acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard. "He was a hero and a leader for us. He had done a lot for the people of Everest region and will always remain in our hearts," said Bhoomi Lama of the Nepal Mountaineering Association in Katmandu. For all his description of his ascent, Hillary consistently refused to say whether it was he or Tenzing who was the first man to step atop Everest, saying the two had climbed as a team to the top. It was a measure of his personal modesty, and of his commitment to his colleagues. Not until after Tenzing's death in 1986 did Hillary finally break his long public silence about who was first. "We drew closer together as Tenzing brought in the slack on the rope. I continued cutting a line of steps upwards. Next moment I had moved onto a flattish exposed area of snow with nothing but space in every direction," Hillary wrote, in his 1999 book "View from the Summit." "Tenzing quickly joined me and we looked round in wonder. To our immense satisfaction we realized with had reached the top of the world." He later recalled his surprise at the huge international interest in their feat. "I was a bit taken aback to tell you the truth. I was absolutely astonished that everyone should be so interested in us just climbing a mountain." More than 200 people have died trying to conquer Everest. Despite his achievement, Hillary didn't place himself among top mountaineers. "I don't regard myself as a cracking good climber. I'm just strong in the back. I have a lot of enthusiasm and I'm good on ice," he said. The first mountain Hillary climbed was 9,645-foot Mount Tapuaenuku - "Tappy" as he called it - in Marlborough on New Zealand's South Island. He scaled it solo over three days in 1944, while in training camp with the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War II. "Tapuaenuku" in Maori means "footsteps of the Rainbow God." "I'd climbed a decent mountain at last," he said later. From there, he sought adventure in places as distant as the Arctic and Antarctica. In the 1957-58 Antarctic summer season, he made what became known as his "dash to the Pole" aboard modified farm tractors while part of a joint British-New Zealand expedition. Hillary got into hot water over the move as his disregarded instructions from the Briton leading the expedition and guided his tractor team up the then-untraversed Shelton Glacier, pioneering a new route to the polar plateau and the South Pole. In 1977, his "Ocean to the Sky" expedition traveled India's Ganges river by jetboat to within 130 miles of its source. Hillary was known as ready to take risks to achieve his goals, but always had control so that nobody ever died on a Hillary-led expedition. In 2006 he entered a dispute over the death of Everest climber David Sharp, stating it was "horrifying" that climbers could leave a dying man after an expedition left the Briton to die high on the upper slopes. Hillary said he would have abandoned his own pioneering 1953 climb to save another life. "It was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say 'good morning' and pass on by," he said. "Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain." By the time he was 40, he was touring in the United States and Europe for three months at a time, speaking at more than 100 venues during a tour. Then in the mid-1908s, he was named New Zealand's ambassador to India, and became the celebrity of the New Delhi cocktail circuit. But Hillary never forgot Nepal, and without fanfare or compensation, he spent decades pouring energy and resources from his own fundraising efforts into the country through the Himalayan Trust he founded in 1962. Known as "burra sahib" - "big man," for his 6-foot-2-inch frame - by the Nepalese, Hillary funded and helped build hospitals, health clinics, airfields and schools. He raised funds for higher education for Sherpa families, and helped set up reforestation programs in the impoverished country. About $250,000 a year was raised by the charity for projects in Nepal. A strong conservationist, he demanded that international mountaineers clean up thousands of tons of discarded oxygen bottles, food containers and other climbing debris that litter an area known as South Col valley, the jump-off point for Everest attempts. His adventurer son Peter has described his father's humanitarian work there as "his duty" to those who had helped him. Hillary's commitment to Nepal took him back more than 120 times, last visiting in 2007. It was on a visit to Nepal that his first wife, Louise, 43, and 16-year-old daughter Belinda died in a light plane crash March 31, 1975. Hillary remarried in 1990, to June Mulgrew, former wife of adventurer colleague and close friend Peter Mulgrew, who died in a passenger plane crash in the Antarctic. Unlike many climbers, Hillary said when he died he had no desire to have his remains left on a mountain. He wanted his ashes scattered on Waitemata Harbor in the northern city of Auckland where he lived his life. "To be washed gently ashore, maybe on the many pleasant beaches near the place I was born. Then the full circle of my life will be complete," he said. Like many good mountaineers before him, Hillary had no special insight into that quintessential question: Why climb? "I can't give you any fresh answers to why a man climbs mountains. The majority still go just to climb them."

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Antarctica New Zealand Pictorial Collection and Associated Press.
Antarctica New Zealand. Webcam Antarctica New Zealand.

DEDICATION CEREMONY AT THE POLE

FIFTHY YEARS AGO...........

Photograph by: Cliff Dickey National Science Foundation

Date Taken: Austral summer 1956-1957

Fuel barrels formed a ring around the ceremonial pole at the South Pole in 1957.

AND TODAY (2008)

The new Amundsen-Scott South Pole station (6000sq) will be dedicated on Saturday Jan. 12, 2008: the event will last 4 hours. The station (153 millions US Dollars) is funded and operated by the US National Science Foundation.

Photograph by: Dwight Bohnet/National Science Foundation

Date Taken: December 19, 2007

Sources:

http://southpolestation.com/news/news.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23008904-30417,00.html