A Tour of the Station Outlying Structures Part 1

Cool sastrugi.

These are old Quonset Huts called Jamesways in an  area called "Summer Camp." While the station was under construction in 2005 the construction workers lived in these huts. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station opened in 2008.

There are many rows of storage berms. Most are partially buried under drifting snow.

Eventually everythings gets covered in the South Pole.

Organized storage berms. It could really be hard to find stuff.

The South Pole Shed!

Finding stuff can be an adventure. This berm is almost all buried.

My work areas.

Standing in the South Pole Transfer Relay Satellite (SPTR) RF shelter. We spent lots of time working on the electronics here this winter. 

The SPTR antenna.

This dome contains the 30 foot dish antenna for the GOES satellite that we don't track anymore plus the Skynet and DSCS antennas and RF equipment. It is planned to transfer the DSCS system to the larger antenna.

This large dome has some leaks as evidenced by all the snow that blew inside.

The South Pole Iridium Satellite system in the RF building. An Iridium phone call can be

 placed 24 hours a day while the standard phone can only be used during internet time (voice over Internet) about 12 hours a day. The Iridium satellite constellation consists of 66 active satellites providing coverage all over the world. Inside the station are individual phones to utilize the Iridium system.

England has Stonehenge while the South Pole "had" Spoolhenge in 2013!

Spoolhenge was unstacked to provide an elevated level for storage. There are now several single level groups of cable spools holding boxes of stuff. 

The back of Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

From the left, power plant exhaust, logistics, and the vehicle maintenance facility.

Each wing has an emergency evacuation stairwell.