My first long walk around the Pole

I finally ventured outside for a long walk.

A fine day for a walk.

There is one Ken Borek Air DHC-6 Twin Otter left on station. This is the airline that operates cargo and passenger services in the Arctic and Antarctic to various small camps.

The engines are covered with heated blankets. This one will fly to the U.K. station at Rothera on the Antarctic Peninsula south of South America. There it will exchange the skis for wheels then fly home to Calgary, Canada. What a cool trip.

The Transfer Data and Relay Satellite antenna (TDRS) radome. The South Pole utilizes one of these numerous satellites that used to be used for space shuttle communications. I spent almost 30 years working on the space shuttle 

On the right is the radome that encloses the new Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) and SKYNET antennas.

South Pole (TDRS)  SPTR2 antenna.

The SPRT2 RF shack.

This radome holds the SKYNET and DSCS antennas along with two Radio Frequency (RF) shacks.

SKYNET antenna.

DSCS antenna.

Standing at the "end of the world."

The sun rotates the South Pole every 24 hours. Today it is at 8 degrees elevation and will continue to rotate and descend below the horizon for the only sunset per year on March 21st. 

My dorm wing and the beer can that leads to the underground.

The geographic South Pole. This sign and flag are moved about 30 feet each January 1st.

The 2017 South Pole marker. The 2018 marker will be designed and built here during this winter.

A bit cold today.

The ceremonial South Pole marker along with the flags of the original Antarctic Treaty signatories in 1959.

Amundsen-Scott South Pole station front door. 

A very thick front door.

After a few hours outside it was time to go inside.

At my work station this graphic shows our current satellite coverage. The schedule advances every day as does my work hours. 

Satellite Communications

February 26, 2017

After a few weeks of acclimating to the altitude I am feeling better. The station is at 9,300 feet but the little air pressure makes it feel more like 10,500 or more. I have been told to take it easy for the first few weeks and to keep hydrating with plenty of water. It was also recommended to stay out of the gym for the first two weeks. Frequent naps help to live with the 30% less oxygen.

I performed this job in winter of 2013. For 2017 there is a new satellite that we track called Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) There are two of us supporting the winter. We are responsible for operations and maintenance of all things Satcom. The station utilizes three satellites and tracking antennas to keep the station internet and phone (voice over internet protocol) system operational about 12 hours per day. There is also an Iridium satellite phone system that can be used 24 hours a day. In other words my partner and I are the station’s internet service providers. It’s a big deal here because of all the science research that is uploaded through the various systems and sent throughout the world. And of course the station personnel want their internet. The bandwidth is small but it does work.

The three satellites are DSCS (a retired DOD DSCS-3 satellite) , Skynet (a retired NATO satellite), and the South Pole Transfer Data and Relay Satellite (TDRS) Relay (SPTR2). 

All three operate at a very low (< 1 degree) elevation and are controlled from a satcom work station. We man this work station whenever one of the satellites is scheduled for a pass. This entails working split shifts to cover the 24 hour day. It is similar to what I did in McMurdo in 2012 except not as automated and the customers are on station.

TDRS antenna.

TDRS RF shed.

The antennas are about 3/4 mile from the station - a long walk in the cold.

South Pole Skynet antenna.

The Vehicle Maintenance Facility on the right. Cold storage to the left of that then the power plant on the left.

Tunnel leading to the power plant.

My work station to the far right in the antenna domes.

The ice sheet covering the Antarctic continent.

The Antarctic continent.

Cold storage - lots of food. The temperature here is a steady -50F.

Lake Vostok under the Russian station.

The First South Pole Station

During my last job at the South Pole in 2013 I read "The South Pole" by Roald Amundsen. Amundsen gives an excellent account of the first 200 years of early Antarctic exploration and how ships sailed further and further south until they sighted the continent of Antarctica. Amundsen was originally focused on the North Pole with the proven polar exploration ship Fram. But in 1909 the rival American explorers Frederick Cook and Robert E. Peary each claimed to have reached the North Pole. Amundsen changed his plan and began the conquest of the South Pole.

After setting up quarters in the Bay of Whales and burying several food and supply depots south to 88 degrees, Amundsen and four others began their trek to the South Pole in October of 1911. 

Excellent book.

Roald Amundsen

The Fram was built for polar exploration.

Bay of whales on the Great Ice Barrier was the expedition's Antarctic base.

Amundsen had this cabin built at his home in Norway. Then it was dismantled, numbered and rebuilt on the ice.

They brought 96 Greenland husky sleddogs.

Seal meat was the steady diet for all.

Before the actual push to the Pole teams set up food and supply depots. This was the last one at 88 degrees south.

Typical polar wear.

The route from the Fram Winter Quarters to the South Pole was 60 miles closer than Scott's quarters. 400 miles to the east was Shackleton's earlier attempted route from McMurdo Sound. Shackleton was 112 miles from the Pole when he was forced to retreat. Robert Scott followed this route and achieved the South Pole on January 17, 1912. 

"The Pole...Great God! this is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the reward of priority. Well, it is something to have got here, and the wind may be our friend to-morrow. Now for the run home and a desperate struggle. I wonder if we can do it. "

These words are from British explorer Scott's diary of 17 January 1912 on the subject of the Antarctic South Pole. They had just arrived at the South Pole, only to find that the Norwegian explorer Amundsen had got there a month before them. Already in bad shape, the British team were bitterly disappointed, and had to face the long journey back in the knowledge that they were not the victors. Technically, these were not Scott's last words, since he did not die for another 2 months. But they mark an absolute turning point in his fortunes, and resonate with the desperation the team must have felt and their foreboding of death on the return journey, during which all of the five-man team perished.

Two of the members perished on the return before Scott and the other two succumbed in their tent 11 miles from a food cache.

Scott's party at the South Pole January 17, 1912. Two died while walking and the other three perished in a tent on their return during a brutal storm just a few miles from a food and supply cache.

The South Pole achieved and the first South Pole Station. December 14, 1911. At first they were actually 2 miles from the real geographic South Pole. They spent several days boxing in the coordinates then corrected to within 1 mile of the real Pole. Not bad for instruments of 100 years ago. Today this tent is estimated to be a mile from the station and buried under 60 feet of ice.