GPS may be "fully functional" but not highly accurate. The orbital planes are at 55 degrees inclination, which means that anyone at the poles will be seeing them only above the horizon, which leads to relatively poor accuracy compared to latitudes between -55 and +55 degrees. But that's what I have been told while I was in the business of relying on their input for system designs. There are vast areas, but they are all under 2 km of ice.
Sounds like a good plot for a scifi movie: Antarctic explorers find a meltwater cave that leads to a vast, under-ice world where geothermal heat provides the basis for a previously unknown ecosystem where strange lifeforms have evolved, and light is provided by bioluminescent organisms throughout the ice ceiling, which is several hundred feet above the warm surface. :)
Been there, done that. "The Land Unknown" (1957), except it invokes volcanically-heated valleys. Otherwise, try the novel "Projekt Saucer III: Genesis" (1980) by W. A. Harbinson, which involves UFO-flying Nazis. Are you aware of the microbial life found in the deep under-ice Lake Vostok?
GPS is fully functional at poles. Otherwise, I agree that some vast warm area at any pole is a pretty ridiculous myth.
GPS may be "fully functional" but not highly accurate. The orbital planes are at 55 degrees inclination, which means that anyone at the poles will be seeing them only above the horizon, which leads to relatively poor accuracy compared to latitudes between -55 and +55 degrees. But that's what I have been told while I was in the business of relying on their input for system designs. There are vast areas, but they are all under 2 km of ice.
Sounds like a good plot for a scifi movie: Antarctic explorers find a meltwater cave that leads to a vast, under-ice world where geothermal heat provides the basis for a previously unknown ecosystem where strange lifeforms have evolved, and light is provided by bioluminescent organisms throughout the ice ceiling, which is several hundred feet above the warm surface. :)
Been there, done that. "The Land Unknown" (1957), except it invokes volcanically-heated valleys. Otherwise, try the novel "Projekt Saucer III: Genesis" (1980) by W. A. Harbinson, which involves UFO-flying Nazis. Are you aware of the microbial life found in the deep under-ice Lake Vostok?
Yes, and there are chemosynthetic organisms that live in areas of deep ocean volcanic vents.