Antarctica '09: The South Pole and Amundsen-Scott Research Station
Part 3 of our Antarctica Experience
The South Pole
We just have to repeat it again:
We are happy, overwhelmed, impressed, exhausted, emotional, but
most of all happy!
On arrival at the pole and after shaking hands with the welcoming
party from the research station, we agree to take up the offer of a
station tour. But first we quickly drop in at the ALE camp and
having a look around the “bottom of the world”.
In the
tent, we are not only greeted to a most welcome cup of hot chocolate
or tea, but also to some interesting news: a Twin Otter is about to
arrive, having dropped off Prince of Monaco 10 km from the
pole. The prince will walk to the pole (under the guidance of
currently the most experienced Antarctic explorer, Norwegian Boerge
Ousland) as part of a good-will tour around the Ice Continent in
celebration of Monaco joining the Antarctic Treaty. The Twin Otter
will then be able to take us back to Patriot Hills whenever we are
ready, saving us from setting up camp and wait to the next day for a
plane to come for us from PH.
The local time at ASS is actually on New Zealand Daylight Savings Time
(GMT+13), in accordance with bases choosing their time zone according
to their off-shore supply base. ASS gets serviced from McMurdo, which
in turn is supplied from Christchurch, New Zealand. In contrast,
Patriot Hills is supplied from Punta Arenas and therefore runs on
Chilean time (GMT-3). We have been maintaining this time zone throughout
our trek in order to stay synchronised with our base camp. Thus, while
we arrive at SP on Monday, 12 Jan 09 at nine in the evening "our" time,
the station is still in the middle of the afternoon, though 1 day
ahead, Tuesday, 13 Jan 09.
We stroll around leisurely enjoying the surrounds, taking all the
obligatory photos of...
...us with the ceremonial pole...
...us with the geographic pole...
...us smiling, etc.
The base it self looks very busy, especially after our rather solitary
time on the trek. Apart from big construction work going on, we also
witness the landing of a Hercules, a supply flight from McMurdo.
As it has already been all day, the weather keeps changing constantly
from sun peaking through the clouds to overcast and at times the
slightest haze of ice crystals. We are fortunate to be treated to an
incredibly impressive phenomenon: a 22° solar halo with two
parhelia on the side, an upper tangent arc and, a rare feature, namely
the bottom of the halo touching the horizon, with the lower tangent
arc barely visible!
Amundsen-Scott Research Station (ASS)
We are then taken very generously on a tour through the research station ASS.
Having spent time with only a small tent as shelter, the huge buildings and
their facility are indeed impressive—they are housing about 250 people
during the summer season and 40–50 over winter.
Facilities include library, gym, etc. However, for us, we are particularly
keen to check out the toilets, which have civilised features such as
sit-down capability without literally freezing your bum, toilet flushing,
and topping it all off, washing your hands with soap and warm water!
In their canteen, over tea and cake, they give us an overview of their
research program. We are very fortunate to meet Vladimir
O. Papitashvili, the NSF project manager, who is presently visiting
the station. He is very enthusiastic and proud to talk to us about
“his baby”, especially
the Ice Cube neutrino
observatory. This is a physically huge structure, covering one
cubic kilometre, buried between 1.5 and 2.5 km deep down in the
ice. And it is a major reason why the ASS looks like a huge
construction site—it actually is a huge construction
site!
As we tour one of the labs, one of the assistants is more than happy
to take time out for us to explain in more details what they are
working on for the Ice Cube.
As we leave the main ASS building and the station tour after a couple of
hours, we see the Twin Otter already parked next to the ALE tent and
ready for loading our gear. We depart at 0:45 on Tuesday, 13 Feb 09
(Chile time)—a short, but extraordinarily impressive visit to
the South Pole.
station tour. But first we quickly drop in at the ALE camp and
having a look around the “bottom of the world”.
In the
tent, we are not only greeted to a most welcome cup of hot chocolate
or tea, but also to some interesting news: a Twin Otter is about to
arrive, having dropped off Prince of Monaco 10 km from the
pole. The prince will walk to the pole (under the guidance of
currently the most experienced Antarctic explorer, Norwegian Boerge
Ousland) as part of a good-will tour around the Ice Continent in
celebration of Monaco joining the Antarctic Treaty. The Twin Otter
will then be able to take us back to Patriot Hills whenever we are
ready, saving us from setting up camp and wait to the next day for a
plane to come for us from PH.
