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If you're in much of the Lower 48, you've been feeling the heat. Forget the beach house or summer cabin at the lake -- we invite you to kick back and relax in Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton's hut.
Or how about taking a stroll around the Cape Royds Adélie Penguin Rookery?
Or checking out the scenery outside of Robert Falcon Scott’s supply hut?
Or getting some viewing time at the South Pole Telescope?
All these panoramic images are part of a Google effort to provide Street View imagery of the Antarctic. (The Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota and the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust helped with the project.) The photos were captured using a lightweight tripod camera with a fisheye lens -- the usual Google Street View camera cars and tricycles aren't exactly rated for polar conditions. Google will be posting more of the images to their World Wonders site for public viewing.
If these tours haven't brought down your temperature, never fear, we've planned more polar coverage to help you beat the heat. On Friday, we'll get an update from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) meeting underway this week in Portland, Oregon. We'll hear about lots of polar science programs, from ice sheet research to studies of Antarctic wildlife. Be sure to tune in and chill out.
Plus, SCAR organizers invited people who live and work in the Antarctic region to submit their “coolest” photographs for an international competition and exhibition. We’ll post some of the winners on our site later in the week, so check back.
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