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Lights at South Pole Station
Caption:
Aurora Australis -- the Southern lights, over the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. This image shows the atmospheric phenomenon over a wing of the new station that NSF is building. The new station, adjacent to the existing station, will replace the aluminum dome that has housed NSF's scientific facilities since the 1970's. The Amundsen-Scott station is one of three United States research stations on Antarctica. The National Science Foundation operates them all. [Image 2 of 3 related images; see also, Southern Lights Over Dome and Southern Lights at the Pole.]
More about this Image
The Aurora Australis is the atmospheric phenomenon known familiarly as the Southern Lights. Like its more familiar counterpart, the Aurora Borealis--or Northern Lights, the phenomenon is caused by the solar wind passing through the upper atmosphere. But the Aurora Australis is far less frequently observed because so few people live in Antarctica during the austral winter.
For further information, see the NSF Media Advisory for May 21, 2002.
(Preview Only)
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| Credit: |
Jonathan Berry/National Science Foundation |
| Decade of Image: |
2000 - 2009 |
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Categories:
POLAR SCIENCE / Antarctic
Formats Available:
Restrictions:
No additional restrictions--beyond NSF's general restrictions--have been placed on this image. For a list of general restrictions that apply to this and all images in the NSF Image Library, see the section "Conditions".
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