INTERVIEWER: What is it actually like at the SouthPole?I know you've been there on a numer ofoccasions.
DPCTPR: Yes,I have and each time I'm struck by theawesome beauty of the place.It's magnificent butyou can really only visit it in the summer munths.
INTERVIEWER: October to March.
DPCTPR: Yes,because it's completely dark for fourmonths of the year...and in addition it has to be thecoldest place on earth.
INTERVIEWER: Colder than the North Pole?Why's that?
DPCTPR: Well,unlike the North Pole,which is actually a frozen sea,Antarctica is a land massshaped like a dome,with the result that the winds blow down the slopes at speeds of up to150km an hour and that's what makes it so cold.And one other interesting thing is thatAntarctica is the driest continent on earth,surprisingly,and so you have to drink large amountsof water when you're there.
INTERVIEWER: How old is Antarctica?
DPCTPR: We're pretty sure it was part of a larger land mass but is broke away from the restof the continent 170 million years ago.
INTERVIEWER: How can you be certain of this?
DPCTPR: ...beacuse fossils and rocks have been discovered in Antarctica which are the same asthose found in places such as Africa and Australia.
INTERVIEWER: Amazing...To think that it was once attached to Africa...