Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station

Built for a geophysical year

The United States built the first station at the South Pole in November 1956 for the International Geophysical Year, and the first wintering party, led by Paul Siple, lived there through the winter of 1957. The scientific programme included meteorology, aurora, cosmic rays, glaciology and measurements of carbon dioxide at the pole, begun in 1957.

The station has been rebuilt as the ice buried it. In 1975 it moved into a geodesic dome, and on 12 January 2008 the elevated station on stilts, designed to be jacked up above the drifting snow, was dedicated; the original buried station was demolished in 2010.

A laboratory at the end of the Earth

The South Pole is a high, dry plateau at about 2,835 metres, with air that is very cold, very clean and very still. NOAA's South Pole Atmospheric Research Observatory has measured greenhouse gases, ozone, aerosols and radiation there since 1957. The same conditions make the sky very clear for infrared and microwave telescopes, and the station hosts the South Pole Telescope, the BICEP series of telescopes, and the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, which uses the ice itself as its detector.

Winter lasts about six months with no sun and no flights, and around forty people stay.

Ice that moves

The ice cap flows at about 10 metres a year, so the geographic pole marker is reset each new year. The station, the dark sector with its telescopes and the clean-air sector with its sampling instruments are laid out so that the sources of contamination, such as the station's engines, are downwind of the sensors.

Engineering on the ice

Each South Pole station has been built to last a generation and has outlived its design: the first station was buried, the dome was filled with drifting snow, and the elevated station on stilts is designed to be lifted. Fuel, food and equipment arrive by aircraft from McMurdo Station during the summer months, and the station is closed to flights in winter. Large experiments depend on that logistics chain, so a project's schedule is a function of the season's cargo. The science that results, from the cosmic microwave background to the cleanest air on Earth, comes at a cost that must be justified each year.

Instruments and technologies

• Atmospheric research observatory Air is drawn through inlets in the clean-air sector into analysers for carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and aerosol; sky radiation and ozone soundings complete the set.
• South Pole Telescope A 10-metre millimetre-wave telescope that maps the cosmic microwave background at the pole.
• IceCube detector Digital optical modules frozen into the ice deep below the station.

The people

• Paul Siple Scientific leader of the first wintering party in 1957.

Timeline

• 1956 Station built in November for the IGY.
• 1957 First wintering party, led by Paul Siple; observatory set up for the IGY.
• 1975 Station moves into the geodesic dome.
• 2008 Elevated station dedicated on 12 January.
• 2010 Original buried station demolished.

Key lessons for observation today

• Separate the sensor from the source Clean-air and dark sectors keep the station's own emissions out of the measurements. Siting inside a site matters.
• Build for a moving substrate The elevated station can be raised as snow accumulates. Infrastructure on moving ground needs a plan for relocation.
• Share the logistics Dozens of experiments share one station and its power, communications and winter crew. A shared platform lowers each team's cost.

Sources

• NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, South Pole Observatory
• Wikipedia, Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station
• NSF United States Antarctic Program