Week 9 at the Pole

Thursday, March 8, 2018 - 10:45am

Fuel arch below South Pole station
Raffaela Busse, IceCube/NSF

The fuel arch under the station (image above) is one of the coldest—and creepiest—places at the Pole, accessed from a network of underground ice tunnels.  The tunnels maintain an even temperature of around -50 °C at all times.  Guess you don’t really need a thermometer then, but the one in the image below is sitting on a frosty shelf in an ice tunnel.  Shelves carved into the tunnel walls showcase a variety of items left behind over the years, some of which can be seen here, from a tour by previous winterovers.  Last week’s weather saw whiteouts and winds, harbingers of winter at the Pole.  But visibility was still good enough for keeping out of the dinosaurs’ way.

Small thermometer sitting on very frosted shelf.
Raffaela Busse, IceCube/NSF

Whiteout conditions with person shown struggling with flapping flags
Raffaela Busse, IceCube/NSF

Person in large TRex costume out walking at the South Pole
Raffaela Busse, IceCube/NSF