Wednesday, February 6, 2013

An aerial view of the vast South Pole desert

A Twin Otter took to the clear and beautiful Antarctic skies last week for a station photo session. The Pole area appears as a vast desert.

An overall view of the station with surrounding building. I knew we were isolated but this really shows that we are indeed in the middle of nowhere. The radomes and RF building I work at are to the far right.

The "Dark Sector" with several research telescopes.

The two radomes that house the three antennas along with the RF building. In the foreground is the ski of the Otter.

A few trees would be nice. Plenty of room for Walmart. I wonder why they aren't here.

I really don't get many visitors while working.
Every work station has plumbers. I suppose this is the most southern plumbing shop on the planet.

It is getting cold.

Every station also needs a shed.

The band room.

A nice gym.


The video room. There is no television at the Pole.


Very comfortable seating.

A collection of previous South Pole markers.

After last winter in McMurdo I don't intend to have cold hands.

These mittens are called bear claws. Not good for handling anything but very warm for outside travel.

Assorted gloves for different conditions and uses.

My brother-in-law, Jim, found these heated gloves online. At a high setting the batteries last 5 hours but will last up to 20 hours at a lower setting. So far they are keeping my hands warm at -40 degrees F. The real test will be in a few months.

I have been getting lots of inquires from fellow Polies. Jim thinks I ought to rent them.

The standard "Herman Munster or Frankenstein" boots. Along with wool socks and boot liners keep my feet toasty.

4 comments:

  1. Hello Mr. warm man!
    Your gear and attitude will help you survive that brutal cold weather...
    I bet you wouldn't like our warm winter with 76F our high today. It has been cooler at night and no A/C yet. Still hoping to hear you get some freshies next week before the winter sets in and prevents the drop.
    Keep us posted and share your knowledge of how the South Pole is different from the north!Our 5th graders will be reading about this next week. Take care and love,
    Andee

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  2. What is A/C? It is -73 wind chill here.I went running this Sunday morning for 45 minutes. I figured I went around 2 miles. My eyelids were freezing shut (goggle fan just couldn't keep up with me running) so it was time to come in. I ran around the geographic Pole so I ran around the world! We are still hoping for freshies but only 5 days of flights left and the station is way behind on resupply.

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  3. Especially when my goggle fan set on high freezes to a stop in a few minutes. What's it doing to me?!

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