South Pole Station

I have been here at The Pole for 6 days now and I was down pretty hard with altitude sickness for a few days.  Today is Sunday, the 10th of November and I am off work.  Nobody works today except the the cooks, the meteorologist, the power plant operator and a few select others.  The satellite is within range of the South Pole a lot today so I plan on getting my blog caught up.

So where do I start?  Let's talk about altitude sickness.  I had a good shot of it.  The flight from McMurdo doesn't allow one to acclimate en route.  Usually when people get to the South Pole they take it easy for 2 days but altitude sickness can occur up to 5 days after you arrive.  I was sick for the 5 days.  The signs of altitude sickness are shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness and difficulty sleeping and I had all of that. The day after I arrived, Mike and I were trying to program the Wheelock VoiceLink and I fell asleep a couple of times.  The next morning I went to see Dr. Bradshaw and he checked my SpO2 and it was down to 79-81.  I spend the next 2 and 1/2 days in my 6' X 8' room with O2 tube run to my nose and taking Diamox.  That small room got smaller by the hour.  Anyways, I'm feeling a lot better and I went outside yesterday for the first time since I got here and it felt great.  I only use O2 at nights with my CPAP now and my SpO2 is hanging around 89.  I still have shortness of breath and trouble sleeping but last night my body said 'enough is enough' and I slept for 10 hours.  I'm hoping that I can sleep tonight.  Mountain climbers have the same problem.  They go up to a certain altitude, rest and then go up higher, acclimate, etc.  Well, enough about altitude sickness.

The original South Pole Station was built in 1956-57 and is now completely buried.  The second station was, located under a geodesic dome, was completed in 1975, which was dismantled and shipped off the continent in 2009-10.  The new Elevated Station was dedicated in January of 2008.  The winter (a little over 8 months) population is around 45 and the summer (a little under 4 months) population is around 150, although we are at 114 right now.  We live in the Elevated Station but there is overflow for the summer out back in something called Hyertats, similar to Quonset Huts. It is like a space station, you don't usually go out unless your job requires it then you suit up just an astronaut.  They even call parts of the station - Pods! But there are those who go outside to just to get out. My friend Ian has a fat tired bike that he takes out when the weather isn't too bad.  Of course, the smokers have to go outside.  There isn't any designated smoking area - just outside.

The average monthly temperatures range between -18 F in the summer to -76 F in the winter.  The record high was + 9 F, recorded in Dec. 2011 and -117 F which was recorded in June, 1982.  The average snow fall is 20 cm per year and the wind averages 11 knots.  The snow doesn't melt here.  The Polar Plateau keeps getting higher year after year.

There aren't any ATM nor credit card usage and no check cashing here at The Pole.  You have to come with cash.  There is a store that is open for one hour every other night.  Due to water conservation, we are allowed 2 two minute showers a week and one load of laundry.  We all do housekeeping. They call it House Mousing.  There is a sign on the back of my door saying that the occupant of this room cleans the restroom on this floor on Mondays.  Well, the only restroom on my floor is the Women's Restroom.  I called on Andrea, the Station Support Supervisor, and told her that there must be some mistake.  She said "No, that is the restroom that you clean and besides the Women's Bathroom is always cleaner then the Men's."  So on Mondays about 4 PM, I go down to the Women's restroom, open the door a little, call out and if it is clear, block open the door and start cleaning.  They have complete instructions posted on the wall. 

We have Internet and phones here.  I have a phone in my room.  It's a Denver, Co phone number.  But the Internet and the phone service is dependent on three satellites being in range.  They are listed on the South Pole Website - http://www.southpole.usap.gov/    The three satellites (GOES, SPTR & SKYNET) are on a bar graph and have green bars when they are within range.  We are really roughing it, don't you think?

I'm now caught up on my blog!

A great photo of the South Pole Station taken from the Internet showing both poles.

South Pole Station has two poles.  This is the geographic south pole and .....

.....this is the ceremonial pole. 

We have a greenhouse.

Typical hallway.

That's a whole lot of powered milk.

Mike Epperson, SME, who works for Lockheed Martin, who has the Antarctic Support Contract for NSF.  Mike hired me long distance while he was at the Palmer Station, one of the three US research stations down here in Antarctica.

Skiway side of the station.

The station is built on pilings which sits on about two miles of ice.

Pole side of the station.

We recycle here.  Everything that comes in has to be flown out.  We have quite a successful recovery rate at 62%.

They have some cool science down here.  This is the IceCube project - more about this later.

Telescopes.

My 6' X 8' room.  You have to dance to get around the chair to get to the desk.  It gets awfully small when you have to spend 2 and 1/2 days on O2 in there.

My granddaughter Amelia's artwork hanging on my wall.

Amundsen made it to the South Pole first and returned to the coast to tell the world.  Scott did not.