Emma Jean Thacker, age 14, Natchitoches, La., for her question:

How deep is the Antarctic ice?

The lonely continent of Antarctica got the beginnings of a thorough physical examination during the recent International Geophysical Year. The depth of the ice was tested in many areas. Even so, no one has yet ventured to give an overall figure about the depth of the ice on the entire continent. Not enough is known at the present time, There is even a theory that the great ice sheet at the south pole may be resting on areas of both land and water. It may be that Antarctica is not a big continent at all, but a series of ice locked islands.

Antarctica's glaciers cover some six million square miles, en area twice as large as the 50 states of America. In spots, the ice is very thin and rocks jut above the surface. In one place, we know that the glacier is about two miles thick and in other places it may be three miles thick.