Georgia Institute of Technology

Thursday, December 9 — At the South Pole, 8:00 p.m.

Thu, 12/09/2010 - 8:00pm

We landed at the Pole. If it was cold in the Dry Valleys yesterday, this is incredible … and it was a “nice day.” The temperature was minus-30 degrees Celsius but again, the wind was the big factor.  When it is calm, minus-30 is not too bad, but when the wind blows, it cuts right through you. In fact, it reminds me of Kansas, but much colder: you cannot have any skin exposed for very long in these conditions or it will get sun burned, wind burned, or suffer from frostbite.

We were met by the South Pole Station Director, Vladimir Papitashivili, and transported to the new South Pole Elevated Station for a meeting. We received an overview of the operations and communications, and were briefed on the new Elevated Station and on the construction plans for additions to the station, which are pending final approval by the NSB. There were about 100 people there including us. The conditions are pretty comfortable inside, but not much in the way of personal space. The living conditions are actually better here than they were at McMurdo and far exceed the remote science stations at Lake Fryxell and Lake Hoare. There they sleep in tents and have only a small heated common area shared by everyone, with the majority of the structures consisting of large “boxes” maybe 10 feet by 20 feet that serve as the laboratories.

Here at the Pole, it is very difficult to sleep in tents. The first explorers did, but for a science work party, it is a tough life. Most of the scientists who do not live in the South Pole Station live and sleep in structures that are a little more stable and have heaters, but the living conditions are still challenging and make one very much aware of how dedicated these folks are to the work that they do.

The South Pole Elevated Station houses the labs, living quarters and common spaces. It is really quite nice, completely self-contained, and very sustainable. Again, nothing is left at the Pole. Everything (and I mean everything) is hauled in and out by plane on a LC-130, the only plane equipped to fly in and out. A great deal of junk has accumulated as they are completing the destruction of the previous station and finalizing the work on the Ice Cube Project.

After the briefing, we visited some of the South Pole Science Centers to get an update on the progress and see firsthand what all goes on down here. At McMurdo, much of the research is related to marine biology and paleobotany (the study of fossilized plants). There is considerable work at McMurdo related to examining the enormous number of plant fossils in Antarctica. Some of the trees they’re studying are several feet in diameter, and scientists are trying to understand how these trees could survive the long, cold and dark winters. All of the research at the Pole is focused on astrophysics and cosmology. The focus seems to be on determining and gathering information about the origins of the universe.

We first visited the Dark Sector Astrophysics Lab, where we received a briefing on “Ice Cube,” a program that involves drilling holes in the ice 2.5 kilometers deep (86 of them) to form a one-kilometer-square instrumented grid in the ice that will detect neutrinos. They drill the holes with hot water and then lower the instrumentation in and it refreezes – the construction process is fascinating, not to mention the science. We each wrote our names on one of the instruments to be lowered into the holes and as such have been memorialized for all time. They are essentially searching for gravity waves and cosmic structures that can provide information on the initial moments after the creation of the universe. At the Pole, the areas surrounding the station are divided into sectors. We took a tour of the RF Sector, including the South Pole Marisat-GOES Terminal (SPM/GT) and the SPTR Earth Station (SPTR). We then visited some of the astronomical telescopes that are the most sensitive in the world because there is essentially no interference from anything and no water vapor. We saw the SPT (South Pole Telescope) and BICEP/Spud. (BICEP is a polarimeter that has been operating at the South Pole since 2006).

Then it was off to the Geographic South Pole and the Ceremonial Pole to take pictures. I took pictures with a Georgia Tech flag and a state of Georgia flag.

We then returned to the station only to find out that the weather was too bad for our plane to land and that we might have to spend the night at the South Pole Station. Crosswinds cannot exceed 15 knots and they were in the range of 20 or so. We went down and ate dinner while the plane circled overhead waiting for the wind to die down. We had a presentation by the folks from the “Clean Air Sector” which is an atmospheric research observatory that monitors carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and has been doing so since 1957. Finally about 7:30, we got word that they were landing. They raced us out to the strip so we could jump on before the winds picked back up, took off and should arrive home to McMurdo around 10:30 p.m.

All in all, the day was absolutely fascinating. We have talked about some of these programs at the NSB meetings before, and it is very enlightening to see first-hand what they are doing and to be able to talk to the scientists. Some of these folks spend years down here: a bleak and isolated existence and one where there is a real danger of psychological problems, particularly in the long, cold, dark winter. They shut down transportation into and out of the station in February and do not reopen it until the following September or October. These folks are really dedicated to their science and have a lifestyle that in some ways resembles a summer camp — a small group of folks with many inside stories, their own customs and traditions and a family-type atmosphere.

Not sure what all is on the schedule for tomorrow, but it will be hard to top today! I know we are scheduled to tour the Crary Laboratories at McMurdo and to talk to the scientists there. For now, I’m just thinking about all that I saw today and am going to try to take a nap so I can do e-mail when I get back to the hut.