South Pole Rides

Today was a nice day for what we have seen and will see.

And it's gone! We will not see the sun again until October.

Rides....We have them. The vehicles have operational restrictions for use with regard to temperatures. None run well in the extreme cold and they can only be used for station critical operations during the winter months. During the summer months vehicles are used for snow removal, transportation of personnel and materials to different locations around the station, cargo and fueling. The most basic being snowmobiles.

All rules apply. You must be trained and use all of the required personal protective equipment before being allowed to drive any of the vehicles on station. Even then, use is specific to your job requirements. Recreational use is prohibited.

One of my favorite vehicles is the tracked van. The thing is just cool! I'd like some of those tracks for my truck back home :)

Others are intended for rougher, longer hauls onto the ice.

And then there are the heavy lifters that can do just about anything.

But when winter hits and temps drop all of the above are subject to breakdowns that can be costly to repair and we don't have a parts store down the street. At those extreme temperatures we rely on the oldest most proven method of transportation. Walking! Dress properly, hydrate often and eat lots. It's amazing what the body can endure. I'm in the background below. The other gentleman is a six foot plus fire tech. We were on our way back from the dark sector labs (more on the labs in the future). A two mile round trip outing. Good times! 

Next Post? Sunset Dinner

  

The Ice Tunnels

Over the past few days the weather has not permitted good visibility. I'll refer you to my last post for weather info. Cold is just cold after a while. I never thought I would consider -60F "nice". The weather (visibility) finally broke allowing a view of the ever setting sun. A spectacular one at that. Today the sun is completely below the horizon but we will still see the glow during a period of twilight that will last few weeks. On one side we have the setting sun.

And to the other a rising moon. Just amazing to see. Pictures do not do these two justice. At least not with my camera.

You are probably wondering about the mentioned ice tunnels. There are about two thousand feet of utility tunnels under the ice at approximately forty feet below the surface. These tunnels were originally cut by a large machine and are now maintained with smaller hand held electrically powered chainsaws. The ice is continually on the move and periodically utility lines need to be adjusted and tunnels widened to accommodate the shift. That's me in the picture for scale.

The temps hover around -60F year round keeping things really frosty all the time. The slightest bit of moisture freezes almost instantly.

Some of the tunnels are rather tight spaces. Other areas can be cavernous in comparison and rather surreal at first glance.

Throughout the tunnels some have left decorations arranged in a manner that highlight the properties of the ice. In the below image a five inch diameter hole was bored into the tunnel wall and small items placed within it. The blue seen is light from above reaching through the Ice.

Near the station water well more moisture is present and it reacts to the cold with spectacular displays. Our water is melted from ice deep enough to be a few thousand years old. The water we drink was surface snow when the Romans still ruled part of the old world. Water so pure and devoid of minerals that it has to be treated prior to consumption.

Next Post? South Pole Rides

Station Interior Part 4 - Inside The Arches and Under The Ice

Today was by far the coldest day I have experienced at the South Pole. Pressure has dropped, making the felt altitude also a challenge when walking around. And the sun hasn't even set yet! The sun is currently at about two degrees above the horizon still spiraling downward ever so slowly. The mother of all sunsets.

Several posts ago I covered the exterior of the station. In one of the pictures there were two huge arched structures under the ice and snow. These arches hold other buildings and storage areas within them. One arch is the vehicle maintenance facility entrance and the other is the logistics and storage arch. The vehicle maintenance facility is well heated and used for storing certain tracked vehicles during the winter. There is also another bay for working on other equipment. Behind the VMF are welding and utility shops.

The logistics arch is where all incoming material and supplies are sorted and stocked in the appropriate location for later use. Some items can not be frozen and are located in the heated building within the arch.

 The arches are very cavernous and provide plenty of square footage for storage of all kinds of items to include our frozen food items. Temperatures outside of the heated building hover around -55 F. Toasty compared to the -82 F outside today! 

  

Beyond the the arch seen above there is yet another arch of roughly the same size that holds all of our fuel in forty five 900 gallon tanks. Lots of fuel to get us through the winter. More on those in a later post. Connecting the main station to the arches is an under ice utility corridor. From this corridor one can access the main power plant and ice tunnels. Yes, ice tunnels.

Next Post? The Ice Tunnels 

Station Interior Part 3

Yeah, It's getting a bit chilly! From here on out I will post the day's weather and a picture of the sun as it spirals downward ever so close to the horizon. It is currently five degrees above the horizon.

Well, we are running out of fresh fruits and vegetables. Before long the only "fresh" produce we will see will come from the station green house. We get lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs and more from it. Enough to get a taste of what is typically taken for granted back home.

Daily the grow lights are turned on and they are bright. So bright that sunglasses are nice to have if in there for long. Every Sunday morning I sit in the greenhouse lounge for about an hour, reading and listening to bird song. Yup, I brought a selection of nature sounds with me since I knew there would be things I would not hear for a while. I'm glad I did. The space is very humid and smells of plants. A nice reminder of home and very relaxing.

Some have asked about my living quarters. I will say that at 8' X 10' they are very cozy and warm, affording me plenty of storage, a nice desk and a comfortable bed.

No, there is no window. I have an interior room. At first I thought that a window would be nice but hear that those rooms are much colder, have a lot of light coming in making it harder to sleep and soon there will be nothing to see for a long time once the sun sets. I also brought a lot of pictures of landscapes that I put up on my secondary monitor creating my own little window onto the rest of the world.

Next Post? Station Interior Part 4 - Inside the Arches and Under the Ice