The Station is located at 90 degrees south latitude and the sun rises in September and sets in March resulting in six months of 24 hour-a-day sunlight and 6 months of 24 hour-a-day darkness (with several weeks of twilight on either end). The temperature drops lower than -100 degrees in the June-August time frame and the station is located at almost 10,000ft altitude on a two-mile-thick ice pack. map of antarctica
The South Pole Web Site
(only available when one of the satellites is
up, about 9-12 hours per day)
Virtual Tour of the South Pole by CARA
Other Interesting Links
At the South Pole I am responsible for many science projects including the following items (see the August page for more info & photos) :
-- UV Spectroradiometer - measurement of
UV radiation and the ozone hole and maintenance of the instrument
BSI Web Site
-- US Geological Survey Seismometer Suite
- instrument maintenance, data interpretation and daily reports of
earthquakes around the world to the National Earthquake Information Center
(NEIC), Golden Colorado. Andrea Grant (Aurora Science) is currently responsible
for this project.
National Earthquake Information Center
USGS Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory
-- US Geological Survey Global Positioning Satellite
Reference Station - continuously operating GPS
reference station located atop the skylab building
US Antarctic Resource Center
GPS Tutorial
-- VLF and ELF Radiation Measurements - detection
of naturally occurring Very Low Frequency, VLF, (0.1 to 100 kHz) radio
waves that propagate along the earth's magnetic field lines and bouncing
between hemispheres through the earth's radiation belts. Analysis of the
propagation of VLF waves helps us to understand the nature of the ionosphere
and of wave particle interactions in the upper atmosphere. Some of the phenomena
that are detected are auroral hiss, chorus and whistlers (lightning) around
the world.
Stanford University VLF Group
Stanford University South Pole ELF/VLF
-- LF, MF, HF Radiation Measurements - detection
of naturally occurring Low Frequency, Medium Frequency, and High Frequency
radio waves. The objective of this program is to correlate these measurements
with auroral and geomagnetic activity to better understand the nature of
the earth's ionosphere and interactions with the sun.
Dartmouth University LF/MF/HF Investigations
-- Riometers (Relative Ionospheric Opacity Meters)
- monitoring of the magnitude of incoming cosmic radio noise, broad band
radio frequency (RF) energy emitted by stellar sources. We are looking
at the absorption of this energy by the earth's ionosphere in order to better
understand the interaction of the solar winds with the earth's upper atmosphere.
Colorful Auroras are one result of this interaction.
University of Maryland Riometers
-- Fluxgate Magnetometers - measurement of low
frequency, large fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field resulting primarily
from perturbations in the magnetic field of the sun. Studying these geomagnetic
pulsations and relating these events with other events such as auroral
activity and phenomena in other locations of the earth help us characterize
the earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere and their interaction with the
sun.
Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill , NJ Fluxgate Magnetometer
-- Micropulsation Magnetometer - measurement of
the rapid fluctuations of the earth's magnetic field. The objectives are
similar to the Bell Lab's Fluxgate Magnetometer, but with emphasis on the
high frequency fluctuations.
University
of New Hampshire Micropulsation Magnetometer
-- Cosmic Ray Detectors - measurement of solar
emissions by counting neutrons created by interaction of low energy protons
with the earth's atmosphere. The objective is to better understand solar
events and their interaction with the earth's upper atmosphere.
University of Delaware, Bartol Research Institute Program
-- Atmospheric Nitric Oxide Detector -
the detection of nitric oxide (NO) , its diurnal variations and relation
to UV radiation intensity
Georgia
Tech Program
Instrumentation
-- More information:
Antarctic Programs and Logistics
Upper
Atmospheric Physics / Solar Terrestrial Physics
Antarctic Upper Atmospheric Science Programs
Solar Terrestrial Physics
Geophysical Data Base
