You may be surprised to know that both Dallas, Texas and the South Pole reach temperatures of 100 degree each July. However, the difference between the two is that you experience negative 100 degrees at the South Pole. This is so cold that any skin not covered will freeze in seconds.
Twenty-eight brave people live at the South Pole for six months each year, sacrificing sunlight, most communication with the rest of the world, and the possibility of escaping the area. This group's purpose is to maintain the U.S. polar base and to manage telescopes and other scientific instrumentation at the research station. Present day communications and technology are altering that purpose.
Recently North American astronomers were able to communicate and operate with the South Pole Observatory's Telescope using a satellite. No one had controlled the telescope at the South Pole prior to this event. The hope is that astronomers will someday be able to use the telescope from the comfort of the warm, comfortable, regular office.
But the crew at the South Pole will experience the coldest, driest and windiest weather to be found on the planet. Antarctica has a higher elevation than any other continent which can complicate even the seemingly simple job of breathing. It is the harsh and severely cold climate that makes it only possible for cold-adapted plants and animals to survive on this continent. These include penguins, seals, and various forms of algae and tundra vegetation.
Anyone who faces the challenges of working a winter in Antarctica is known as a "winter-over". For entertainment, they have to rely on a large variety of videos, a small exercise room, a pool table, great food, and traditions. Winter-overs are reluctant to discuss what occurs between when the station closes in February and when the military plane returns them to civilization in October.
The notable expansion of the research program at the South Pole has resulted in a constant problem regarding a shortage of electrical power. There are three oil-burning generators and these units are not enough to keep up with the demands of the technology that is being constantly introduced to the research program. This causes winter-overs to have to deal with not enough power, crowed living arrangements, and cold buildings.
Howeve, over the years many traditions have been introduced to the program to help pass the time. The outdoor temperature must be at least 100 degrees below zero for one to be inducted into the "300 Club." This is when winter-overs get the sauna temperatures up to 200 degrees. Then they run from the sauna out into the 100 degree air and back.
Winter-overs also look forward to the airdrop. In June, a U.S. National Guard military transport plane flies above the South Pole and drops pallets of food, mail and other supplies. Quickly the winter-overs go outside to utilize heavy equipment and bring the goodies inside the station. That single airdrop is the most contact with another person these people get in six months of occupation.
During their stay in Antarctica, they will not travel over a mile from the pole or even see a tree. However, every worker will be given one week's vacation at McMurdo, which the primary U.S. Antarctic base. While on vacation, the winter-overs can enjoy camping and frolicking on the rocky beach in jeans and t-shirts in the relatively warm 25-degree weather.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlechamber.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
