Reflections from time on ‘the Ice’

• SOUTH POLE, Antarctica
Dec. 5, 2006 | 2:30 p.m. ET
Santa might want to pack his bags and switch poles. A very cozy science colony is rising on this enormous desert of ice. It lacks a fireplace, but it does have great food, an impressive gym and indoor basketball court, and about 250 helpers — though the ones here are scientists, staff and construction crews, working two shifts 24 hours a day to maximize the short but sunset-free summer season.

What’s most remarkable about the project is just how remote it is. Our three-hour flight from McMurdo Station took us over the Ross Ice Shelf — which is the size of Texas — and along part of the Transantarctic Mountains, which stretch along 2,500 miles. (Both the shelf and the mountains are key players when it comes to sea levels; more about that in January, when we present our global warming package.)

Photojournalist John Brecher and I flew in on one of the 372 flights planned for this three-month season. Landing on skis instead of wheels, Air Force LC-130 transport planes bring in pieces of the puzzle on several flights a day — ranging from the steel beams for a $25 million, 600,000-pound telescope, to the staple foods that keep people fueled.

Colony construction started in 1997 and won’t finish until 2009 or 2010, says Jerry Marty, the station manager and an employee of the National Science Foundation, the U.S. government agency that runs the place.

The buildings are all atop the vast ice sheet covering Antarctica, and that’s moving — about 30 feet a year. So the colony is built to go with the flow, literally, and not collapse or get buried by snowdrifts in the process.

Its current estimated cost is $160 million, Marty says, but that could change, given how long and hard the work is.

Andy Martinez, one of the engineers putting the colony together, calls it “a logistics nightmare,” in part because ordering pieces can be a four-year process. The plant runs on jet fuel since it has to be brought in via the LC-130s, and that costs about $15 a gallon, Martinez adds.

Other issues include the fact that the pole is at 9,300 feet above sea level, which means it's easy to to lose your energy and your breath quickly.

Weather is obviously also a factor, but on this day we had it relatively easy. Some summer days are 50 below zero Fahrenheit, but today was sunny and only 25 below, with a wind chill factor of 44 below. Even so, that wind chill made for frosty ears (mine) and fingers (John) when we spent a half-hour outside taping video for the warming project!

The South Pole’s science sectors
Our goal here was to visit the lab that maintains the world’s longest continuous record of emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas tied to global warming. Lab staff members Andrew Seaman and Emrys Hall say they get to work amid the cleanest air in the world — kept that way by the fact the lab is located upwind from the rest of the colony and its carbon emissions. That also means no barbecues on the deck of their two-story pad.

John Brecher / MSNBC.com Andrew Seaman and Emrys Hall stand atop the Atmospheric Research Observatory at the South Pole. The observatory sits upwind of all other facilities at the pole to make sure the experiments sample the cleanest air on Earth.

This area is known as the “clean air sector.” The colony also has a “quiet” sector for seismology studies and a “dark” sector for astronomy. That last sector includes the site for the $25 million telescope, which by February should be ready to begin its investigation into the nature of dark energy, which scientists feel is behind the accelerating expansion of the universe.

The project sounds expensive, but it turns out to be a whole lot cheaper than launching a space telescope to get what should be similar results.

All this construction, from the planes to the tractors, certainly has an environmental impact. Occasional diesel and jet fuel plumes make that clear. The scientists here — and at McMurdo, for that matter — see it as well, but they note that most of Antarctica really is a desert, with no known life forms at the pole.

They say the research is justified in the name of understanding and protecting the wider planet. Whether that’s the right call is something society at large decides via its representatives in government. And Marty does say that solar and wind power projects are being considered.

So far, U.S. government funding has favored expansion of the South Pole Station, which Marty estimates will have a $5 million annual budget to start its 40-year lifespan.

Past bases fade away
Times have certainly changed. The first shack built 50 years ago is now lost under the snow. The famous silver Dome will be torn down and shipped out, replaced by the main two-story building, whose footprint is about the size of a large supermarket.

Marty and Martinez are veterans, both having lived in the austere and rather gloomy Dome, which is an unheated bubble structure that protected dorms, labs, a dining hall and a power plant for 30 years.

Some vets who have spent winters here are part of a culture that includes “The 300 Club” — basically sitting in a sauna at 200 degrees F and then running a quarter-mile to the geographic South Pole when it’s 100 below zero. Oh yeah, you have to be naked (except for boots and face mask), and you have to roll around in the snow.

Martinez joined in 2002, when the run was still done from the Dome and up what’s known as “Heart Attack Hill,” a short but steep incline. “You could hear your skin crack when you bent your joints afterwards,” he recalls.

The South Pole diet
Life here also means eating lots to keep up energy levels. One worker talked about consuming three times more here than back in the States, and yet having lost 5 pounds in the process this summer. It helps that the food, given where it’s prepared, is incredible.

And as big as it is, the colony does have a crowded feel, especially at mealtime. A “summer camp” houses 100 people in tents originally used as MASH medical units. Once construction is over, the population should settle down to 150 — with 60 of those being scientists and the rest support staff.

But even when the colony's workforce declines, there is another population wrinkle: tourists. Yup, they do show up every so often by skis, small planes and even diesel vans as part of $30,000 adventure travel trips.

While tourists do get a tour and can shop at the station store (and use the toilets, if they're polite!), they are not allowed to sleep inside or shower, and they must pitch a tent if they intend to stay over.

The station has enough to deal with, Marty emphasizes. “We’re not supporting them as well.”

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