Amundsen-Scott South-Pole Station

The geographic South Pole was first reached in 1911 by Roald Amundsen and his companions and 1 month later in January of 1912 by Robert Scott and his team (Sections 1.4.3, 1.4.4). Nearly 17 years passed until 1929 when Admiral Richard Byrd flew over the South Pole in a Ford tri-motor airplane. Finally, in 1956 Admiral George J. Dufek landed at the South Pole in an LC-47 aircraft to prepare the way for the construction of an American research station to be used during 

Although Pole Station is more than 1,600 km south of Ross Island, it continues to be resupplied during the 

In addition to other science facilities, the South Pole Station includes a seismological observatory that has operated since 1957. This facility was greatly improved in January of 2003 when a new observatory was placed into service about 8 km from the main building. The sensor of the seismograph at the new facility is located in a borehole at a depth of 300 m below the surface where it is not affected by vibrations caused by the diesel-powered electric generators and other activities at the main station. As a result, the South Pole seismological observatory is now virtually free of locally-generated seismic noise and therefore is ideally suited to detect earthquakes that occur elsewhere on the Earth. 

Visitors to Pole Station like to have their picture taken beside a barber pole topped by a silver globe surrounded by the flags of the Treaty Nations (Fig. 2.13). This pole is not at the precise location of the geographic South Pole because the East Antarctic ice sheet is sliding on its base which means that the true position of the South Pole must be redetermined annually. 

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Fig. 2.12 (a) Entrance to the geodesic dome at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in December of 1982 (Photo by T.M. Mensing). (b) The new building at South Pole Station contains dorm rooms, laboratories, office space, a cafeteria, and... 

At the Amundsen-Scott South Pole base station in Antarctica, when the temperature is — 100.0°F, researchers who live there can Join the "300 Club" by stepping into a sauna heated to 200.0°F then quickly running outside and around the pole that marks the South Pole. What are these temperatures in °C What are these temperatures in K If you measured the temperatures only in °C and K, can you become a member of the "300 Club" (that is, is there a 300.-degree difference between the temperature extremes when measured in °C and K) ... 

Figure 12.17 shows the ozone profiles over the U.S. Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole in 1993 on August 23 prior to formation of the ozone hole and on October 12 after the ozone hole had developed. The total column ozone decreased from 276 DU on August 23 to only 91 DU on October 12, and, in addition, there was essentially no ozone in the region from 14 to 19 km (Hofmann et al., 1994a). During the same period at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, the total column ozone decreased from 275 to 130 DU (B. J. Johnson et al., 1995). While similar profiles have been observed since the discovery of the ozone hole, these data show some of the most extensive ozone destruction ever observed, although 1994 and 1995 showed almost as much 03... 

FIGURE 12.17 Vertical O, profile before (August 23) and after (October 12) development of the ozone hole at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott Station, South Pole, in 1993 (adapted from Hofmann et al., 1994a). 

The chemical analyses of snow at Base Roi Baudouin (70°S,24°E), Amundsen-Scott Station (90°S), and Plateau Station (79°S,40°E) are listed in Appendix 17.12, based on analyses by Hanappe et al. (1968). The data demonstrate that fim at Base Roi Baudouin on the coast of East Antarctica has higher concentrations of sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, and nickel than fim at South Pole and Plateau stations both of which are about 1,300 km from the nearest coast. The variation of the concentration ratios in Fig. 17.40 suggests that the concentrations of sea salts decrease in the sequence Na (highest). Mg, K, Ca, Fe, and Mn. Nickel does not fit the pattern perhaps because it originates to some extent from extraterrestrial sources. 

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