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The US National Science Foundation is setting up an automated scientific
station at the North Pole, the first since Russia abandoned its station in 1992.
The American submarines that previously monitored Arctic ice have been scrapped
under the START II disarmament treaty. So this month, four researchers will fly
to the pole to deploy floating buoys that will collect ice and climate data as
they drift with the ice pack and transmit it via satellite links. The
information is critical because global warming is expected to show first in the
Arctic.