South Pole, I am still here.

Current Weather - 30F, Windchill -53F, Winds 7 knots, Barometer 690mb

As I write this it is Saturday evening about 10pm.  I was scheduled to be at the South Pole from Monday until Wednesday.  Well weather happens, so I ended up arriving at Pole on Wednesday, and scheduled to return to McMurdo on Friday.  Did I mention that it is Saturday?  So our flight was canceled on Friday and Saturday due to a storm in McMurdo.  And they don’t fly on Sunday, so my 3 day trip to Pole is now 6 days and maybe more.  No complaints, not from me, my boss on the other hand might not be as happy.

So here are a bunch of random photos from the South Pole and I will explain some as I go.

This is a photo of the ceremonial South Pole marker.  It has flags from all of the original Antarctic Treaty countries around it, and it is situated nicely centered in front of the station.

Here is the marker representing the actual geographical South Pole.  It is maybe a quarter mile or less from the other marker; however this marker is moved regularly to stay at the exact pole even though the ice shelf is moving about 30 feet each year.

And a close up of the very nicely made marker.

And most importantly my hero shot at the South Pole!

And here are some views of the skiway at Pole.  Here is an LC-130 coming in the taxiway to park.

And here they are parked and are offloading cargo onto a sled.  Once the cargo is offloaded then the plane will offload any excess fuel that is not needed to get back to McMurdo, which will help supply the station for a year.

And taking off on skis.

And lastly a good fly by shot.

The last aircraft photo won’t look like much to most people, but this is a C-17 flying over the South Pole.  The C-17 cannot land at Pole due to the fact that it doesn’t have skis.  However in case of an emergency during the winter months, the C-17 does a practice airdrop mission over Pole in the summer season to prepare for an emergency drop in the winter time.  Sorry, I don’t have any good photos of the actual drop, but it was still amazing to see a C-17 here.

In this photo we are riding in a Scout, a track snow grooming type vehicle, to ARO which is in the Clear Sector and NOAA runs experiments here on the air.

 

This is ARO.  There are numerous sectors around Pole such as Clean Air, Dark, etc.  And all are named for the science going on in the area.  I will try to explain more in a later post.  At ARO we got a quick tour about what they do (more to come later) and during the tour, the explained that the air on the windward side of this building is the cleanest air on the plant.  And the really cool part is that I got to hold a specimen vial out the window and I now have a sealed sample of the cleanest air on the plant.

 

Looking back from ARO this is a photo of the elevated station.  It is called the elevated station because the station is built on columns that allow the station to be raised occasionally to keep it about the snow accumulation.

 

This is what a fire truck looks like at the South Pole.

 

Here is the Communication Center for the station.  During the summer months the fire department staffs the center and provides 911 coverage, local VHF radio coverage, as well as HF communications with McMurdo and any aircraft in the area.

 

These are the arches. Both are completely buried in the snow except for this end. The one on the left is extremely long and houses cargo; a heated building inside the arch; and unheated food storage, and then lastly the fuel bladders for the station.  The arch on the right houses the heavy equipment shop and several building trades shops, again in a heated building inside the arch.

 

This shot is of the back of the elevated station and I am standing in the same location as my photo of the arches, I just rotated to the left.  I liked the steam from the power plant generators in the sunshine.

 

And a better view of the backside of the station.  He you can clearly see the elevated feature of the station.  These wings mostly are dormitory housing.

 

The chrome looking cylinder on the right side of the station is called the beer can.  It is the staircase that connects the elevated station to the tunnels under the snow that go to the power plant and the arches.

 

And a nice front profile view of the station.

 

And here is what it looks like looking out the window.  Miles and mile of ice, in every direction, including downward.

 

And here is the entrance to the station leading up from the skiway.  Aka the opposite side from the arches.

And this is just the really cool ornament at the top of one of the flag poles.

So, that is all I have for photos to share now.  I have allot more photos, but only a limited time on the internet.  So I will add to the story at a later date.

Stay warm.

R.J.