The Queen Maud Land Traverse party which departed from South Pole on
December 4. reached the Pole of Relative Inaccessibility on January 27
after traveling a distance of about 800 nautical miles. The route
travelled can be traced by the following positions:

Day   Position             Remarks
 1     85°29'S,   4°30'E
 2     85°02'S,   1°09'E
 3     85°10.2'S, 1°36'E    Temporarily immobilized and awaiting resupply
 7     85°13'S,   7°42'E
 9     85°04.3'S, 18°12'E
10.    84°58'S,   17°54'E   Stopped for vehicle repair
13         same             Resupplied
14     84°50.8'S, 21°42'E
15     84°42.1'S, 26°06'E
16.    84°42' S,  30°06'E
17     84°30'S,   30°54'E
19     84°O8.5'S, 37°24'E    
20     84°08'S,   37°24'E   
23     84°10'S,   37°24'E     
25     83°53'S,   41°18'E     

The geophysical studies were carried out by personnel from the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin. Seismic measurements included 29 reflection
stations and three short refraction, two long refraction, and three
wide-angle reflection profiles. Gravity observations were made at 180
stations, and essentially continuous records of ice surface elevation
and total magnetic field were kept by reading instruments at short
intervals in the moving vehicles. Two short electrical resistivity
profiles were also completed. At all but a few of the seismic reflec-
tion stations good echoes were obtained from the base of the ice. A
new system comprising 12 geophones in parallel fed into a single ampL-
fier which provided a better than 3 to 1 improvement in reflected sJg-
nal to noise ratio, was instrumental in this success. Rugged subgla-
cial topography encountered within 50 miles of Pole Station along 60°E
longitude was characteristic of most of the region traversed. Irregu-
lar variations in the ice surface elevation, in the order of kilometers
in horizontal dimension and tens of meters in height, were also charac-
teristic of most of the region, persisting to the Pole of Inaccessibility.

The glaciological program, under Ohio State University, included snow
density measurements to 2 m., accumulation studies by pit stratigraphy,
and snow temperatures at 10 m. depths at the 29 major stations. Dens-ft::
profiles were determined to 40 m. at 13 stations, usng a neutron probe.
Ramm hardness of the snow to 50 cm. was found at 171 sites. Stow sam-
pies were collected for microparticulate analysis.
 
A U.S. Coast and Geodetic magnetician observed the three components
of magnetic field at all major stations.
A scientist from Belgium and one from Norway also accompanied the tra-
verse (See Foreign Scientists at U. S. Stations).

Source: Antarctic Report (NSF), January 1965.