Getting lower...
Yesterday Andy and I took a tour down into the ice tunnels, which is where the fresh and waste water travel from a rod well back to the station. The pipes are about 30 feet under the compacted snow and ice, and there is a tunnel space next to them to allow maintenance workers to fix and upgrade them. This space also allows people like me to get to see them!
Our tour guide, Juile, takes us into the ice tunnel, 30 feet under the South Pole Station.
Getting colder...
As we walked further down the tunnel, the temperature became colder. It eventually reached -60 degrees Fahrenheit! Even though I was wearing many layers, I could feel the cold air through them. My glasses frosted with ice from the moisture I exhaled and my finger stung from frost nip when I touched my camera with a bare hand. Luckily I made it out safely. Andy, who was only wearing a pair of jeans and his jacket, was also cold but far less cold than I would have been if I dressed like him!
A thermometer confirms the cold temperature of below 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the ice tunnels.
Andy Stillinger smiles despite wearing jeans and a coat in the ice tunnels.
An underground museum
There are mementos and art carved into the ice tunnels, preserved by the constant below freezing temperature. It was surreal to see a Russian tin with a preserved Sturgeon sitting in a cavity in the wall. There was also artwork, a plaque, a photograph, and a very eerie sculpture! Many of these pieces were created and placed in the tunnel by people who "wintered over." These people experience 24 hours of darkness and are stuck at the pole until November, when the first flight of the summer season comes in.
A frozen sturgeon and can of food from Russia remain frozen in the ice tunnel.
An eerie statue may frighten visitors to the ice tunnels.
Questions
Compare the video showing McMurdo Station with the one showing South Pole Station. How are they similar? How are they different? Which one would you prefer and why?
What would you leave in the ice tunnel if you could leave something?
Why do you think the pipes are buried 30 feet under the snow and ice?
Math Connection
If the average temperature in the winter is around -90 degrees Fahrenheit, and the average temperature in the summer is around -30 degreed Fahrenheit, what is the average temperature for the year?
If it was -30 degrees Fahrenheit outside of the ice tunnels, and -60 degrees Fahrenheit at the bottom of the ice tunnels, how much colder did it get as we walked down to the bottom of the tunnels?