AMUNDSEN-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATION GUIDE
FY04
The National Science Foundation welcomes you to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. This handbook describes facilities, procedures, and safety reminders that will help you during your stay at South Pole.
This year’s science, construction, and airlift schedules are the most ambitious in our history, and we have a talented group of people to make it all happen. Our success will depend on our commitment to safety and community involvement.
Located at 90 degrees South latitude, Amundsen-Scott Station has an average annual temperature of -56.7 degrees F, with a record low temperature of -117 degrees F. It rarely snows at South Pole; however, a relatively constant wind speed of 5–15 knots compounds the accumulation.
Most station buildings are located beneath an aluminum geodesic dome, which provides a windbreak for the living, dining, communications, recreation, and laboratory facilities. The main station can accommodate twenty-seven people under the Dome. Additional personnel are housed in modular hypertats and in Summer Camp—a collection of canvas Jamesways, a short walk from the main station.
A series of steel arches houses the power plant, biomed facility, garages, artists’ & writers’ studios, and main fuel storage. The Dark Sector is located grid west of the station and houses facilities for astronomy and astrophysics research. The Atmospheric Research Observatory lies 300 feet upwind of the station, but the majority of climate change research takes place at the West Antarctic Ice Shelf (WAIS), also known as The Divide.
Please read this handbook thoroughly and don’t forget to visit the Geographic South Pole during your stay!
Welcome Aboard,
Tucker Bollinger
South Pole Area Director