Blogger Sergey Dolya writes: Amundsen-Scott Station, named after the discoverers South Pole, amazes with its scope and technology. In a complex of buildings around which there is nothing but ice for thousands of kilometers, there is literally its own separate world. They didn’t reveal all the scientific and research secrets to us, but they gave us an interesting tour of the residential blocks and showed us how polar explorers live...
Initially, during construction, the station was located exactly at the geographic south pole, but due to ice movement over several years, the base shifted to the side by 200 meters:
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This is our DC-3 aircraft. In fact, it was heavily modified by Basler and almost all of its components, including avionics and engines, are new:
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The plane can land both on the ground and on ice:
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This photo clearly shows how close the station is to the historical South Pole (group of flags in the center). And the lone flag on the right is the geographic South Pole:
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Upon arrival, we were met by a station employee and gave us a tour of the main building:
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It stands on stilts, just like many houses in the north. This was done to prevent the building from melting the ice underneath and “floating.” In addition, the space below is well blown by winds (in particular, the snow under the station has not been cleared even once since its construction):
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Entrance to the station: you need to climb two flights of stairs. Due to the thinness of the air, this is not easy to do:
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Residential blocks:
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At the Pole, during our visit, it was -25 degrees. We arrived in in full uniform- three layers of clothing, hats, balaclavas, etc. - and then we were suddenly met by a guy in a light sweater and Crocs. He said that he was used to it: he had already survived several winters and the maximum frost he experienced here was minus 73 degrees. For about forty minutes, while we were walking around the station, he walked around looking like this:
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The inside of the station is simply amazing. Let's start with the fact that it has a huge gym. Popular games Among the employees are basketball and badminton. To heat the station, 10,000 gallons of aviation kerosene per week are used:
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Some statistics: 170 people live and work at the station, 50 people stay in the winter. They feed for free in the local canteen. They work 6 days a week, 9 hours a day. Everyone has a day off on Sunday. The cooks also have a day off and everyone, as a rule, eats what was left uneaten in the refrigerator from Saturday:
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There is a room for playing music (in the title photo), and in addition to the sports room, there is Gym:
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There is a room for trainings, conferences and similar events. When we passed by, there was a Spanish lesson going on:
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The station is two-story. On each floor it is pierced by a long corridor. Residential blocks go to the right, scientific and research blocks go to the left:
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Conference hall:
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There is a balcony next to it, with a view of the station’s outbuildings:
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Everything that can be stored in unheated rooms lies in these hangars:
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This is the Ice cube neutrino observatory, with which scientists catch neutrinos from space. Briefly, it works like this: The collision of a neutrino and an atom produces particles known as muons and a flash of blue light called Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation. In transparent arctic ice IceCube's optical sensors will be able to recognize it. Usually, for neutrino observatories, they dig a shaft at depth and fill it with water, but the Americans decided not to waste time on trifles and built an Ice cube at the South Pole, where there is plenty of ice. The size of the observatory is 1 cubic kilometer, hence, apparently, the name. Project cost: $270 million:
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Theme "made a bow" on the balcony overlooking our plane:
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Throughout the base there are invitations to seminars and master classes. Here's an example of a writing workshop:
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I noticed the palm tree garlands attached to the ceiling. Apparently there is a longing for summer and warmth among the employees:
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Old station sign. Amundsen and Scott are two discoverers of the pole who conquered the South Pole almost simultaneously (well, if you look at it in a historical context) with a month difference:
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In front of this station there was another one, it was called "Dome". in 2010 it was finally dismantled and this photo shows the last day:
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Recreation room: billiards, darts, books and magazines:
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Scientific laboratory. They didn’t let us in, but they opened the door slightly. Pay attention to the trash cans: it is practiced at the station separate collection garbage:
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Fire departments. Standard American system: everyone has their own closet, in front of them is a completely finished uniform:
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You just need to run up, jump into your boots and put on:
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Computer Club. Probably, when the station was built, it was relevant, but now everyone has laptops and comes here, I think, to play games online. There is no Wi-Fi at the station, but there is personal Internet access at a speed of 10 kb per second. Unfortunately, they didn’t give it to us, and I never managed to check in at the pole:
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Just like in the ANI camp, water is the most expensive pleasure at the station. For example, it costs one and a half dollars to flush a toilet:
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Medical Center:
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I looked up and looked at how perfectly the wires were laid out. Not like it happens here, and especially somewhere in Asia:
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The station houses the most expensive and most difficult to find souvenir shop in the world. A year ago, Evgeniy Kaspersky was here, and he did not have cash (he wanted to pay with a card). When I went, Zhenya gave me a thousand dollars and asked me to buy everything in the store. Of course, I filled my bag with souvenirs, after which my fellow travelers began to quietly hate me, since I created a queue for half an hour.
By the way, in this store you can buy beer and soda, but they sell them only to station employees:
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There is a table with South Pole stamps. We all took our passports and stamped them:
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The station even has its own greenhouse and greenhouse. There is no need for them now, since there is a message with outside world. And in winter, when communication with the outside world is interrupted for several months, employees grow their own vegetables and herbs:
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Each employee has the right to use the laundry once a week. He can go to the shower 2 times a week for 2 minutes, that is, 4 minutes a week. I was told that they usually save everything and wash it once every two weeks. To be honest, I already guessed from the smell:
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Library:
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And this is a corner of creativity. There is everything you can imagine: sewing threads, paper and paints for drawing, prefabricated models, cardboard, etc. Now I really want to go to one of our polar stations and compare their life and amenities:
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At the historic South Pole there is a stick that has not changed since the days of the discoverers. And the marker for the geographic South Pole is moved every year to adjust for ice movement. The station has a small museum of knobs accumulated over the years:
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(not on the mainland coast).
The station was built in November 1956 for scientific purposes by order of the US government.
An aerial photograph of Amundsen-Scott Station, taken around 1983. The central dome is visible, as well as various containers and supporting buildings
The main entrance to the dome is located below the snow level. Initially, the dome was built on the surface, but then gradually sank into the snow
The aluminum unheated “tent” is a landmark of the pole. There was even a post office, a shop and a pub.
Any building at the pole is quickly surrounded by snow, and the design of the dome was not the most successful. A huge amount of fuel was wasted to remove snow, and delivery of a liter of fuel costs $7.
The unique design on stilts allows snow not to accumulate near the building, but to pass under it. The sloped shape of the bottom of the building allows the wind to be directed under the building, which helps blow snow away. But sooner or later the snow will cover the piles, and then it will be possible to jack up the station twice (this ensures the service life of the station from 30 to 45 years).
Construction materials were delivered by Hercules aircraft from McMurdo Station on the shore and only during daylight hours. More than 1000 flights were made.
On January 15, 2008, in the presence of the leadership of the US National Science Foundation and other organizations, the American flag was lowered from the dome station and raised in front of the new modern complex. The station can accommodate up to 150 people in summer and about 50 in winter.
The minimum temperature at the southern geographic pole of the Earth was −82.8 °C, 6.8 °C higher than the absolute temperature minimum on the planet and at the Vostok station (there it was −89.6 °C), 0.8 °C lower than the unofficially recorded minimum in 1916 in Oymyakon - the coldest winter city in Russia and the Northern Hemisphere and was recorded on June 23, 1982, one day after the date summer solstice. In this century, the most severe frost in Amundsen-Scott was observed on August 1, 2005, -79.3 °C.
In summer, the station's population is usually more than 200 people. Most of the staff leave by mid-February, leaving only a few dozen people (43 in 2009) overwintering, mostly support staff plus a few scientists who maintain the station during the months of Antarctic night. Winterers are isolated from the rest of the world from mid-February to the end of October, during which time they face many dangers and stress. The station is completely self-sufficient in winter, supplied with power from three generators running on JP-8 aviation fuel.
Research at the station includes sciences such as glaciology, geophysics, meteorology, upper atmospheric physics, astronomy, astrophysics and biomedical research. Most scientists work in low-frequency astronomy; low temperature and the low humidity of polar air, combined with altitudes of over 2,743 m (9,000 ft), provide much greater air clarity at some frequencies than is typical elsewhere on the planet, and months of darkness allow sensitive equipment to operate continuously.
In January 2007, the station was visited by a group of Russian high officials, including FSB chiefs Nikolai Patrushev and Vladimir Pronichev. The expedition, led by polar explorer Artur Chilingarov, took off from Chile on two Mi-8 helicopters and landed at the South Pole.
TV show aired on September 6, 2007 Man Made National Geographic Channel with an episode about the construction of a new building here.
November 9, 2007 program Today NBC, with co-writer Ann Curry, reported via satellite phone, which was broadcast on live from the South Pole.
On Christmas Day 2007, two base employees got into a drunken fight and were evacuated.
Every year the station staff gathers to watch the films “The Thing” and “The Shining”
The station occupies a prominent place in a number of
What has Robert Scott been doing all these years? Like many of Her Majesty's naval officers, he pursues an ordinary naval career.
Scott was promoted to lieutenant in 1889; two years later he enters the mine and torpedo school. Having completed it in 1893, he served for some time in the Mediterranean Sea, and then in family circumstances returns to his native shores.
By that time, Scott knew not only navigation, pilotage and minecraft. He also mastered surveying instruments, learned how to survey terrain, and was well versed in the basics of electricity and magnetism. In 1896, he was appointed as an officer to a squadron located in the English Channel.
It was at this time that Scott’s second meeting took place with K. Markham, who, having already become president of the Royal Geographical Society, persistently urged the government to send an expedition to Antarctica. During conversations with Markham, the officer gradually becomes captivated by this idea... so as not to part with it ever again.
However, about three more years passed before Scott made his fateful decision. With the support of Markham, he submits a report on his desire to lead an expedition to the extreme south of the Earth. After months of overcoming various kinds of obstacles, in June 1900, Captain Second Rank Robert Scott finally received command of the National Antarctic Expedition.
So, by an amazing coincidence, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the two main participants in the future grandiose competition were almost simultaneously ready for their first independent polar expeditions.
But if Amundsen was going to go to the North, then Scott intended to conquer the extreme South. And while Amundsen was making a test voyage on his ship in the North Atlantic in 1901, Scott was already heading towards Antarctica.
Scott's expedition on the Discovery ship arrived on the shores ice continent at the beginning of 1902. For the winter the ship was placed in the Ross Sea (southern part Pacific Ocean).
It passed safely, and in the Antarctic spring, in November 1902, Scott set off for the first time on a trip to the south with two companions - the military sailor Ernst Shackleton and the naturalist scientist Edward Wilson, secretly hoping to reach the South Pole.
True, it seems somewhat strange that, planning to do this with the help of dogs, they did not consider it necessary to acquire in advance the necessary experience in handling dog sleds. The reason for this was the British idea (which later turned out to be fatal) about dogs as not a very important means of transport in Antarctica.
This is evidenced, in particular, by the following fact. For some time ahead of Scott's main group, an auxiliary party walked with an additional supply of food, personally dragging several sleighs with loads, and with a flag on which was a proud inscription: “We do not need the services of dogs.” Meanwhile, when Scott and his comrades set out on a hike on November 2, 1902, they were surprised by the speed with which the dogs pulled their loaded sleigh.
However, pretty soon the animals lost their initial agility. And it was not just the unusually difficult road, numerous uneven spots covered with deep, loose snow. The main reason Poor-quality food caused the dogs to quickly lose strength.
With limited help from dogs, the expedition progressed slowly. In addition, snowstorms often raged, forcing travelers to stop and wait out the bad weather in a tent. In clear weather, the snow-white surface, easily reflecting Sun rays, caused snow blindness in people.
But, despite all this, Scott's group was able to reach 82 degrees 17" south latitude, where no man had ever set foot before. Here, after weighing all the pros and cons, the pioneers decided to turn back. This turned out to be timely , because soon the dogs, one after another, began to die of exhaustion.
The weakest animals were killed and fed to the rest. It ended with the people, again, harnessing themselves to the sleigh. Enormous physical exertion in extremely unfavorable conditions natural conditions quickly exhausted their strength.
Shackleton's symptoms of scurvy began to appear more and more clearly. He was coughing and spitting blood. Bleeding was less evident in Scott and Wilson, who began to pull the sled together. Shackleton, weakened by his illness, somehow trudged behind them. Finally, three months later, in early February 1903, all three returned to Discovery.
Antarctica is the most severe climate region Earth. The lowest air temperature on Earth was recorded here: 89.2 degrees below zero. Let's go on a trip, look at the Antarctic landscapes and find out what are scientists doing there?
American Palmer Station, located on Anvers Island, north of the Antarctic Circle. Constructed in 1968. Much of the research is carried out by marine biologists.
Temperature -37.1 degrees Celsius. In East Antarctica, at the Soviet Antarctic station Vostok, on July 21, 1983, the lowest air temperature on Earth in the entire history of meteorological measurements was recorded: 89.2 degrees below zero.
Antarctica was discovered on January 16 (28), 1820 by a Russian expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. Previous existence southern continent(lat. Terra Australis) was stated hypothetically; it was often combined with South America and Australia.
A large iceberg off the coast of Antarctica, January 1, 2010. As a rule, icebergs break off from ice shelves. Since the density of ice is 920 kg/cub.m, and the density sea water- about 1,025 kg/cubic meter, about 90% of the iceberg’s volume is under water.
The winds here leave such strange, towering traces.
Real model: Adelie penguin. A very trusting bird, with its habits sometimes reminiscent of a human.
Mother of pearl clouds. These are thin translucent, wonderful and very rare clouds that form in the sky on high altitudes in the stratosphere (about 20-30 km) and apparently consisting of ice crystals or supercooled water droplets.
Northern Lights at Antarctic McMurdo Station.
Ghost ship. Antarctica is the highest continent on Earth, the average height of the continent's surface above sea level is more than 2000 m, and in the center of the continent it reaches 4000 meters
Brazilian Antarctic station Comandante Ferraz. The base was opened on February 6, 1984. On February 25, 2012, the station was destroyed by fire. The fire broke out in the generator room, from where it spread to the entire station.
Scientists quit hot water up and watch them turn into crystals of ice and steam.
Whale skeleton.
Multiplied iceberg. This is a Fata Morgana - a rare complex optical phenomenon in the atmosphere, consisting of several forms of mirages, in which distant objects are visible repeatedly and with various distortions.
Moon on Anvers Island.
Adélie penguins walk in orderly rows at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica.
A beautiful iceberg near Palmer Station.
A leopard seal caught a penguin. This is a terrible predator. The leopard seal has a very streamlined body, allowing it to develop great speed in the water. Its head is unusually flattened and looks almost reptile-like. On par with a killer whale leopard seal is the dominant predator of the south polar region, being able to reach speeds of up to 40 km/h and dive to depths of up to 300 m.
The moon shines over McMurdo Station.
Adélie penguins on an ice floe, East Antarctica.
Amundsen-Scott (English: Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station) is a permanently inhabited US Antarctic station at the South Pole, operating since 1956. Located at an altitude of 2835 meters above sea level. The first station in the depths of Antarctica (not on the coast of the mainland). The station was built in November 1956 for scientific purposes by order of the US government.
Chronology
When opened (in 1956 as part of the International Geophysical Year), the station was located exactly at the South Pole, but at the beginning of 2006, due to ice movement, the station was approximately 100 meters from the geographic south pole. The station got its name in honor of the discoverers of the South Pole - Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott, who reached their goal in 1911-1912. The station is located at an altitude of 2835 m above sea level, on a glacier that nearby reaches a maximum thickness of 2850 m (2005). The average annual temperature is about −49 °C; varies from −28 °C in December to −60 °C in July. average speed wind - 5.5 m/s; gusts of up to 27 m/s were recorded.
Foundation of the station (1957-1975)
The original station - now called Old Pole - was founded in 1956-1957 by an 18-man US Navy expedition that landed there in October 1956 and wintered there for the first time in Antarctic history in 1957. Because climatic conditions were not known before, the base was built under the ice to overcome any weather conditions. The lowest temperature in 1957 was recorded at −74 °C (−102 °F). Surviving such low temperatures, combined with low humidity and low air pressure, is only possible with proper protection. The station, abandoned in 1957, is covered with snow (like any structure at the South Pole) at a rate of 60-80 mm per year. Now it is buried quite deeply and is completely closed to visitors, since all the wooden floors have been crushed by the snow. On January 4, 1958, the Transantarctic Expedition of the British Commonwealth arrived at the station with the famous mountaineer Edmund Hillary. It was the first expedition to use road transport and the first to reach the Pole by land, since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912. The expedition moved from the New Zealand station "Scott Bays".
Dome (1975-2003)
The aluminum unheated “tent” is a landmark of the pole. There was even a post office, a shop and a pub. Any building at the pole is quickly surrounded by snow and the design of the dome was not the most successful. A huge amount of fuel was wasted to remove snow, and delivery of a liter of fuel costs $7. The 1975 equipment is completely outdated.
New scientific complex (since 2003)
The unique design on stilts allows snow not to accumulate near the building, but to pass under it. The sloped shape of the bottom of the building allows the wind to be directed under the building, which helps blow snow away. But sooner or later the snow will cover the piles, and then it will be possible twice...