Changing of the Flags

At sunrise the flags at the ceremonial South Pole marker that have flown all winter are removed and raffled to station crew. These flags represent the twelve original signers of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. Since then many other countries have signed this treaty. Photo credit to all the flag pictures: Brett

New flags are then attached to the flag poles. During the raffle I won the New Zealand flag seen here! My daughter and I spent six weeks exploring the island nation with our bicycles in 2012 - one leg of our world journey. The excellent medical duo of Catherine and Sarah removed the flag (which I won) and installed the new one. 

The new flags flying proudly.

The last several days have been very cold near -100F with windchills in the -140's. Now another Antarctic storm has enveloped us. This and the next view taken from my room.

Geographic South Pole sign and flag to the left.

A friend who volunteers in the Growth Chamber brought me some freshly grown broccoli while I was working. What a great snack! Thanks Catherine.

The storms continue blasting upstairs windows.

Snow accumulation on the window sills. 

Snow accumulation on an upstairs overhang.

A crane on one of the cargo decks.

The "trash yacht". All trash is separated inside the station, bagged, then deposited in cardboard tri-wall boxes. These boxes are then flown to McMurdo Station 835 miles away on the coast onboard the C-130 Hercules planes. One a year a supply ship arrives in McMurdo Sound. Once off-loaded from the planes all trash and recycled waste is loaded onto the ship and taken to the ship's homeport of Port Hueneme, California where the trash is off-loaded and sent to the appropriate landfill/recycling center. Seventy percent of all Antarctic trash is recycled. 

You always hear about kids and adults complaining about taking out the trash in the states. Spend one winter at the South Pole and you will never complain again. During the winter including 6 months of total dark in temperatures lower than -100F and windchills in the -150's we on station walk out the DZ exit and down the stairs shown here and walk through several feet of snow drifts to the trash yacht. We then figure out which box, as it is dark, then open that box in the cold wind, deposit the bag, then close and secure the box. It can be a very adventurous task. 

The station crew all signed the Norway flag. The winter station manager will take this flag to Oslo, Norway and deliver it to the Fram Museum. Amundsen sailed the Fram to Antarctica in 1911 for his trek to the South Pole which he and his team achieved in December 1911.

The Arctic/Antarctic ship Fram was specially designed for extreme ice sailing. It is in a museum in Norway.

The Fram in Antarctica as the crew prepares for their journey to the South Pole.

The Fram under sail.

End of the season parties in the galley bar.

A South Pole Sunrise - the only one of the year!

A South Pole sunrise September 21st, 2017 time 0453.

The Dark Science Labs.

There is only one sunrise per year here so I had a fine sunrise walk.

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station survives another long dark winter.

Sastrugi - parallel wavelike ridges caused by winds on the surface of hard snow, especially in polar regions.

After winter...

...before winter when I arrived in February. Lots of snow drift during the winter. It doesn't snow here but blows in from hundreds of miles away. The polar plateau is flat so the snow accumulates at the first resistance - the station. 

A nice but chilly walk this morning for sunrise. Today the temperature is cooler at -97 F with a windchill of -142 F. The pressure was down to sending the physiological altitude up.

The view of the ceremonial South Pole from the galley.

The ceremonial South Pole (right at the flags) from outside. The future is very bright. The sun will circle around the South Pole up to 23.5 degrees above the horizon then will circle down for the only sunset on March 22nd, 2018 for another 176 days of dark.

The South Pole went through many tremendous storms this winter and was plastered by snow. 

A huge polar storm hit us the day after sunrise. Today is September 30th and the first day in 9 days that we have seen the sun. The temperature was a pleasant -53 but the wind was ferocious. Any wind over 10 is very hazardous. 

We were in a whiteout for 4 days.

An Illness and almost Sunrise

For some strange reason I came down with pneumonia and spent time in Club Med - the South Pole medical center being infused with antibiotics. 

I like old stuff and in the medical center there is a display of old medical stuff.

I'm glad this wasn't used.

Within a few days I was back at work thanks to the medical staff supporting me in my office.

With excellent care from medical I was soon back to normal.

Jocelyn prepared her dog Yaki for Hurricane Irma.  It was quite the scary storm for my family since we are only 600 feet from the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Thanks to them and their help removing debris blocking the neighborhood street drains during the height of the storm there was minimal damage. 

During the end of the winter a Scott tent was pitched at the geographic South Pole. Photo credit to Martin Wolf. 

The Scott tent seen here was named after Robert Scott at the South Pole in 1912. Scott is to the right. 

Almost sunrise taken from my room a few days ago. All window coverings were removed two weeks ago.

A view of the Scott tent and geographic South Pole as seen from my room.

A refractive sunrise September 19th. The sunrise will be Thursday September 21st at 0453.

A reflection as seen from the second floor observation deck.

Our winterover picture. I am the 4th person up from the SOUTH sign.

Without the names.