The South Pole

I have now been to the bottom of the world and the only way is up. 

Every direction is north (up) from the South Pole

The South Pole is approximately 3 hours flight in a LC-130 or 833 miles from McMurdo Station. Amundsen-Scott South Pole station is sitting on top of ice that is approximately 9000ft (2700m) thick.  US established the station back in 1956. Roald Amundsen was the first human that reached the South Pole the 14th of December 1911 and Robert F Scott reached it on 17th of January 1912. 

The new station was officially opened 2008, it took 5 years to build it as they could only build it during the 3 month summer season. You can watch a documentary about how they built it on You Tube, the show was Megabuilders that was on Discovery channel.

Main entrance in to the station

The altitude is 9301ft but due to the low barometric pressure it feels like the altitude was above 10400ft. I definitely felt the difference in altitude coming up from sea level. A lot of people takes Diamox to prevent HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) and HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema). I decided not take it as I heard from co- workers that had gone down there before me how the side effects they experienced were pretty bad. Most of the people I met at the Pole said it usually takes 1-2 weeks to get used to the altitude. While I was there I would feel out of breath just by walking up the stairs to the medical clinic on the 2^nd floor of the station.

South Pole Medical Clinic

During my time there I got the opportunity when I was not working to go and see 2 of the science stations that are located there. There is an area just outside of the station that has the cleanest air in the world. I even got a sample of it in a bottle. The day we were there the CO2 level was only 393.3 ppm. The CO2 level measured at Mauna Kea Loa which is regarded as ground zero for monitoring the trend for worldwide CO2 level was 395.1 ppm the same day.

NOAA building at the South Pole

There is also a 10 meter wide telescope that they are using to find out more about the “Big Bang”. During our very brief impromptu tour, we were told about Dark Matter, black holes and how they were looking for traces from the “Big Bang”. It was very science fiction like.

One other thing about the South Pole station is their food. I was told by everybody that the food was better there. Yes, they were right. The food was great, good thing I am not stationed there because my weight would have increased. Granted they only have to cook for 120 people on the station compared to almost 800 in McMurdo, maybe that is the biggest difference. Almost everything has been frozen and we were discussing one night during dinner if the altitude and the extremely dry air prevented the food from getting freezer burns and stayed "fresher".  They also have a green house in the station, which becomes a nice oasis. There is a sofa just outside where people can just sit and relax.

Green house

Green house

I think the South Pole is what it would be like to live on a Space Station on the Moon or Mars. It almost looks like what I think a space station would like. You can go outside and do different activities, but most of the time you stay indoors.

 

The Galley

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

"The South Pole"

Back of the station

The gym at the South Pole