Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station |
Americans have occupied the geographic South
Pole continuously since November 1956.The central area
of the station was rebuilt in 1975 as a geodesic dome
50 meters wide and 16 meters high that, with 14- by
24-meter steel archways, covers modular buildings, fuel
bladders, and equipment. Detached buildings house
instruments for monitoring the upper and lower
atmosphere and for numerous and complex projects in
astronomy and astrophysics. There is an emergency camp.
A number of science and berthing structures were added
in the 1990s, particularly for astronomy and
astrophysics. A redevelopment plan to upgrade the
Station is in progress. Some 28 scientists and support
personnel winter at the station, and 130 or more people
work there during the summer. The station's winter
personnel are isolated between mid-February and late
October.
Recorded temperature has varied between -13.6° Centigrade and -82.8° Centigrade. Annual mean is -49° Centigrade; monthly means vary from minus 28° Centigrade in December to -60° Centigrade in July. Average wind is 5.5 meters per second; peak gust recorded was 24 meters per second. Snow accumulation is about 6-8 centimeters (water equivalent) per year. The station stands at an elevation of 2,835 meters on interior Antarctica's nearly featureless ice sheet, about 2,850 meters thick at that location. Research at the station includes glaciology, geophysics, meteorology, upper atmosphere physics, astronomy, astrophysics, and biomedical studies. The station's name honors Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott, who attained the South Pole in 1911 and 1912. |
Last modifed, June 2004; Office of Polar Programs |