SOUTH POLE - ANTARCTICA

This image comes to you courtesy of the:
Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory under the:
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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The US Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is seeing a great deal of construction activity these days. Years of planning are finally coming to fruition as the steel frame of the new station rises out of the snow and ice of the polar plateau. More pictures of the construction can be found here. From mid April until September don't be surprised to find a black photo. The sun is below the horizon for roughly six months. During the summer months you can see the Dome, Sky Lab (orange building left of the dome), and the new station under construction, anticipated completion 2005.

Station images taken during the 1999/2000 austral summer season.

This image above was taken from directly over the skiway. The center of the three long arches to the right of the dome is the original garage arch.  The arch to the rear is the new garage-shops /heavy equipment arch. The arch in the foreground is the new power plant arch.

The new garage arch was erected in austral summer 97/98.  The inner-arch building shell was erected during the austral summer of 98/99 with the interior finished during winter-over 1999.

The new power plant arch and inner-arch building was erected during austral summer 1999/2000.  The interior electrical/mechanical and finishes will take place over the winter season 2000.

The image below shows the skiway at the top of the photograph. This image was taken from grid west looking grid northeast.