Hideous summer freezes outposts in Antarctica

The awful summer afflicting New Zealand has extended to the nation's southernmost outpost, Scott Base.

For eight days, all flights between Christchurch and Antarctica have been cancelled because of conditions on the Ice that are all-too-familiar to those on the mainland - persistent low cloud and rain.

Although New Zealand can expect some warm, dry weather this week, the bleak conditions at Scott Base and the neighbouring United States base, McMurdo Station, are predicted to continue.

Scientists are waiting for the weather to clear, along with a Russian team led by Artur Chilingarov, a polar explorer and deputy chairman of the Russian Parliament, and a US dive team being sent to repair a damaged icebreaker trying to clear a route for supply ships.

Acting Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Dean Peterson said the extended bad weather was "not all that unusual" but would go from being an annoyance to a problem if it persisted beyond this week.

If flights for research groups were delayed past the end of the week, he said, some research projects might be delayed until next summer.

Conditions in December were warmer and brighter than usual.

- NZPA