Life At The South Pole


By John Chambers

There is one commonality between Dallas, Texas and the South Pole; both get to see 100 degree temperatures in July. The only thing is that the South Pole sees temperatures of 100 degrees below zero, not above. This is cold enough to freeze your blood in a very, very short time.

Even with these conditions, twenty-eight people commit six months to living at the South Pole. They have to deal with no sunlight, very little contact with the world, and no way to escape.

This group's purpose is to maintain the US polar base and to manage telescopes and other scientific instrumentation at the research station. As communications and technology see advancements, their job is changing.

Recently North American astronomers were able to communicate and operate with the South Pole Observatory's Telescope using a satellite. Never before this had a telescope at the South Pole been operated from a different continent. Astronomers are wishing that someday they will have the ability of observing the universe from the South Pole while being physically located in a warm office somewhere else.

The crew that stays at the South Pole must find ways to handle the coldest, driest, and windiest climates on Earth. There is not other continent that has elevations like Antarctica, so the crew also has to deal with limited oxygen. Therefore, only plants and animals that have adapted to the cold can survive there, such as various algaes, tundra vegetation, seals, and penguins.

Those who accept the risk of working during the Antarctic winter are called "winter-overs." Winter-overs are supplied with a large video collection, an exercise room, computers, a pool table and very good food. Normally, winter-overs do not speak much about what occurs during their winter months of isolation at the South Pole, from February to October.

The ever increasing size of the research program at the South Pole has caused there to be insufficient power for all the equipment. There are only three oil-burning generators to power everything, including computers, lights, telescopes, lasers, and other electrical devices. This causes winter-overs to have to deal with insufficient power, in conjunction with cramped quarters and cold buildings.

The winter months are broken up using some traditions. The outdoor temperature must be at least 100 degrees below zero for one to be inducted into the "300 Club."

This is when winter-overs get the sauna temperatures up to 200 degrees. Then they run from the sauna out into the 100 degree air and back.

They also look forward to the annual airdrop. Every June a delivery of food, mail, and supplies are dropped by a U.S.

Air National Guard military transport plane. Once the drop has taken place the winter-overs face the chilling air while they rush to use heavy equipment to bring all the treats inside. This is the closest winter-overs are able to come to any physical contact with the world outside the South Pole.

They do not get to look forward to seeing a tree or even going more than a mile from the pole. They look forward to the one week of vacation they get at McMurdo Station, a US Antarctic base. While here, the winter-overs are able to camp out in the 25-degree climate, bake in the sun, and relax in t-shirts and jeans.



 
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