South Pole Station
Just days before the official start of the International Polar Year—and 50 years after 18 men first wintered at the South Pole—scientists collected the first test observations from a massive new telescope.
Credit: Trent Schindler, National Science Foundation
South Pole Station Construction
A video clip shows the last construction stages of the South Pole Telescope.
Credit: National Science Foundation
A Galactic Cataclysm
Every 20 million years or so, gas pours into the galactic center and sets off bursts of star formation. The larger stars soon go supernova, blasting the surrounding space and sterilizing it. NSF based this animation of such a cataclysm on research carried out by astronomer Antony Stark, using the Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST / RO).
Credit: Trent Schindler, National Science Foundation
Science at the Poles
Liesl Schernthanner, South Pole winter site manager and Denis Barkats, science leader at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, describe the search to confirm theories of the origin of the early universe, the long commute to the South Pole and other aspects of life during the six-month winter at the Earth's most remote research station.
Credit: Dena Headlee, National Science Foundation
South Pole Traverse
Team completes overland traverse to South Pole station.
Credit: Dena Headlee, National Science Foundation
Polar Neutrino Observatory
Scientists and engineers take a major step toward completing the world's preeminent cosmic neutrino observatory at South Pole station.
On January 12, 2008, almost a century after Norwegian Roald Amundsen erected the first artificial structure—a small pyramidal tent—at the South Pole, the National Science Foundation (NSF) dedicated the third and newest U.S. scientific station at the Earth's southern extremity.
The new facility replaced the iconic domed station built in 1975, and the dedication marked two historic occasions: the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical Year (IGY), and the mid-point of International Polar Year 2007-2008, a global scientific field campaign, which that was going on a half-century after the 1957 International Geophysical Year (IGY), when the first scientists took up residence in the very first South Pole station.
The new $153 million Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is a technological and engineering marvel designed to support an array of scientific investigations, from astrophysics to seismology, while accommodating harsh conditions on the polar plateau. It will house more than 20 times as many people as stood at the Pole with Amundsen—or his British rival Robert F. Scott—and at a level of comfort, safety and connectedness to the outside world that would have been almost inconceivable to the explorers for whom the station is named.
It is also a logistical marvel: all of the components used in its construction were carried to the Pole in propeller-driven aircraft that fly three times as fast and many times higher than did Adm. Richard E. Byrd, the American naval aviator who in 1929 became the first person to fly over the Pole.
The designers of the new station faced innumerable unique obstacles.
One of the most daunting is snow cover. Eight inches of snow accumulate every year, without ever melting, in an environment that routinely sees zero humidity and temperatures of minus 73 Celsius (-100° F). Winds create snowdrifts that inevitably bury low-lying buildings in months. The current station is constructed beneath a 50-meter diameter geodesic dome that is largely covered in the austral winter. So every year, bulldozer crews spend the summer excavating the dome. To avoid a "bowl effect" of snow buildup in the surrounding area, crews now have to push the snow nearly a mile away, expending precious fuel.
The dome is showing signs of structural fatigue from years of excessive and unevenly distributed snow loading, and the enclosure is no longer adequate for a growing population of scientists and operations personnel. The original 1956 South Pole station suffered the same fate, and has long since vanished under 30 feet of ice.
To meet the challenge of drifting snow, the new station is designed with the profile of a sleek airplane wing. It is elevated and faces into the prevailing near-constant 10 to 15 mph wind, which flows above and below the station. The fast-moving winds beneath the station effectively help scour the area of snow, thereby greatly reducing the need for manual excavation. However, because some snow buildup is inevitable, the building also sits on 36 uniquely designed hydraulic jack columns that allow the 65,000-square-foot structure to be raised in 25-centimeter (10-inch) increments, thereby effectively adding decades to its building life.
Another problem involves the 'ground' supporting the structure. Actually, it sits on a glacier almost two miles deep that slides 33 feet toward the sea each year. (As a result, the marker designating the true geographic South Pole must be moved annually.) And because different parts of glaciers move at different speeds, buildings are in constant danger of being ripped apart. So the connecting walkways between building modules are designed to be flexible. To ease fuel consumption, the structure is insulated to five times the value of the average U.S. residence.
This 2005 photo shows the new station (top right) and the old dome (bottom left)
Finally, builders faced the challenge of getting nearly 40,000 tons of construction materials to a site that has no roads, railroads or other type of access infrastructure. The facility was designed so that all parts could be shipped by ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules cargo aircraft.
The result is a city in miniature—including a NASA plant-growth chamber for fresh food production. The W-shaped structure will accommodate NSF's Antarctic Research Program at the Pole, which includes 150 people during the three-month austral summer and 50 people during the remaining nine months.
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