Clean-up Day at the South Pole
You’d be surprised how much mess 50 people in a large research station can create. Here at the South Pole, where it takes six months for the sun to rise, it only takes two days for a 30 gallon (113 liter) trashcan in the bathroom to be stuffed to the brim and overflowing with used […]
Water, water, everywhere… and all of it frozen
Despite being surrounded by the world’s largest supply of fresh water, the South Pole is driest place on earth. Not a drop of liquid H2O exists—not for hundreds of miles in any direction. Temperatures, which never climb above freezing even on the warmest days of summer, keep our fresh water supply frozen—locked away in plain […]
Sticking with a Daily Routine at the South Pole
I arrived in Antarctica on a clear, sunny day in October, 2015. The Mount Erebus volcano dominated the horizon, sending large clouds of steam and smoke high into the air. Minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-28C) felt cold at the time, and watching my breath glide from my mouth and disappear into the landscape was hypnotizing. […]
Fixings for a Feast at the South Pole
Seventy thick, grass-fed buffalo strip steaks sat in front of me, each individually vacuumed-sealed in a clear plastic bag—red, red meat, wrapped in a red, red film of Myoglobin and water. I found myself a large, green plastic cutting board and an open section of stainless counter next to a deep sink, then I grabbed […]
The Middle of the Night at the South Pole
It is the solstice. Darkness has swallowed the landscape for three months. Each day, since March, the sun has sunk farther and farther away as our permanent night has gone from grey to dark blue to an immutable black. The sun sits as low as it ever will below the horizon, the apex of our […]
The Toughest Job at the South Pole is Inside – in the Dish Pit
Every job at the South Pole has unique challenges. Utility technicians walk maintenance rounds through every outbuilding and the main facility each day—7 miles (11 kilometers) on foot, most of it outside or in unheated wings of the station. The fuel specialists spend 9 hours a day, in a subterranean minus 50 F (minus 45 […]
How to Layer Up to Survive Frigid South Pole Temperatures
There are few places on earth that are as cold, as dry and as uncomfortable as the South Pole. We rarely see temperatures above 0 Fahrenheit (minus 17 Celsius) during the summer, and it’s not uncommon to have a week of minus 90 F (minus 67 C) during the winter. When you factor wind and […]
Hot, Humid and Green at the South Pole
The temperature has increased—thank goodness. Negative 100F (-73C) tends to lose its novelty after a few days—especially when you have to walk through it on your way to and from work. There are only so many times someone can tell you, “wow, it’s still minus 100F” over burnt morning coffee, over-steeped afternoon tea, or a […]
Antarctic Glacier Melt Could Raise Global Sea Level by Nearly 3 Meters
An international group of scientists say if climate change continues at its current rate, Antarctica’s Totten Glacier might become so unstable that it could eventually release enough water to produce an almost 3 meter rise in the global sea-level sometime in the next several hundred years. A year ago, this same group of scientists from […]
South Polies Tackle Last-Minute Preps to Survive Brutal Winter
The last plane left two weeks ago and everyone is settling into their wintertime roles. SOUTH POLE JOURNALRefael Klein blogs about his year working and living at the South Pole. Read his earlier posts here. Station population sits at 50 and most departments are only a fraction of the size they once were. Although the summer crew left […]