WASHINGTON — The federal government shutdown is reaching all the way down to the South Pole.
The National Science Foundation announced Tuesday that it is putting its three Antarctic scientific stations in deep freeze just as scientists begin to arrive for the start of a new research season.
The NSF runs three stations in Antarctica, spending just under $400 million a year there. It often takes weeks for about 1,200 researchers who spend Antarctic spring and summer there to get to the southern continent by boat or plane.
Researchers study astronomy, particle physics, climate change and biology in the pristine continent, usually starting in October, when the weather warms in the southern spring. The largest station is McMurdo, but there are also stations at the South Pole and the Antarctic peninsula.
Diana Wall, a researcher at Colorado State University, is among the scientists whose work is threatened by the decision. She is part of a team studying the impacts of climate change on microscopic nematodes, and team members were planning to travel to Antarctica in December.
“I will be surprised if all five of us end up on the ice if this goes on another three weeks,” Wall said, adding that the group is already making contingency plans and prioritizing for a shortened research season.
“I was pretty grumpy when I first heard it; now I’m just really sad,” she said. “All this money, all the logistics, student experiments, graduate students and long-term research — every data point counts.”
NSF and Lockheed Martin officials did not respond to phone calls and e-mail requests for comment.
