South Pole Observatory

The South Pole is a unique location for astronomy and infrared astronomy in particular. Both pole regions have long periods of darkness and the opportunity to track celestial objects continuously. Only the South Pole, however, is on solid land, which allows a stable observatory to be established. Even more importantly the South Pole is quite high. The combination of the high altitude and extremely cold temperatures reduces the water vapor to very low levels. This means that the South Pole has the lowest attenuation of infrared and particularly of submillimeter radiation of any earth-based observatory. There are, of course. 

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Stern s research has taken him to the South Pole, to a number of major astronomical observatories, and to the upper atmosphere aboard high-performance military aircraft. His areas of interest include spacecraft rendezvous theory, terrestrial polar mesospheric clouds, galactic astrophysics, and tenuous satellite atmospheres. He has been principal investigator for a number of space projects, including the European Space Agency s Rosetta/ ALICE Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer Experiment (a mission to study Comet 46P/Wirtanen), two Space Shuttle projects, three airborne research projects, and two research rocket projects. In 1995, Stern was selected to be a Space Shuttle Mission Specialist finalist for a forthcoming flight. 

Fig. 11-2 Atmospheric CO2 concentration (a) at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, 19.5°N, 155.6°W and (b) at the South Pole. Smoothed average of flask measurements adjusted to the 15th of each month. Modified from Bacastow and Keeling (1981) with the permission of John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Fig. 1-2. Secular rise of C02 mixing ratios in the atmosphere. Dots represent monthly mean values in ppmv as observed with a continuously recording nondispersive infrared analyzer. The smooth curve represents a fit of data to a fourth harmonic annual cycle, which increases linearly with time, and a spline fit of the interannual component of variation. Top Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii bottom South Pole. [From C. D. Keeling el al. (1982) and unpublished data courtesy C. D. Keeling.]...

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. 

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