C-130 on the ground at South Pole Station

New folks at the South Pole getting their first look at the station

The C-130 preparing to head back to McMurdo

The geographic South Pole

The United States is responsible for maintaining South Pole Station

A distant view of South Pole Station. The Clean Air Facility is on far left.

A panoramic view of the South Geographic Pole with South Pole Station.

The South Geographic Pole

Mileage posts to a few home towns in the United States and Canada

The entrance to South Pole Station

The outer tunnel at the entrance to South Pole Station

The United States Flag at the top of the South Pole Station geodesic dome.

Guess which way the prevailing winds are at South Pole Station

The Clean Air Facility where much of NOAA's South Pole Station work is done This facility is used primarily for atmospheric sampling. The samples are analyzed for greenhouse gas content.

Inside the Clean Air Facility. The Computer Data Acquisition System. A 64K Digital Corporation computer interfaced to a teletype.

Inside the Clean Air Facility. Carbon dioxide monitoring equipment to the left.

Particle impactor to study atmospheric particulate matter; Aiken condensation nuclei counter, and Dupont humidity sensor.

Instruments mounted on the roof of the Clean Air Facility. Air sampling stacks in the center and pyrheliometer on the right.

Instruments mounted on the roof of the Clean Air Facility. Four separate wavelength pyrometers measuring total radiation from the sun and sky.

Instruments mounted on the roof of the Clean Air Facility. Four separate wavelength pyrometers measuring total radiation from the sun and sky. Note hoses supplying air to keep ice crystals off the domes.

Ultraviolet pyrometer mounted on the roof of the Clean Air Facility.

Inside the Clean Air Facility. Normal incidence pyrheliometer with filter wheel

Beautiful frost patterns develop on the windows of the Clean Air Facility

A view of South Pole Station

The view of the South Pole and the Antarctic Plateau from the station. The ice here is over 9000 feet thick. The nearest land feature is a mountain range over 300 miles away.

The Clean Air Facility on a day without a horizon. Flags mark path.

South Pole Station on a day without a horizon, near "white out" conditions. Flags mark path. One would literally feel like walking in a bowl of milk. There was no surface definition and one had to walk with bent knees because impossible to determine if surface was uneven.

Without buildings and markers, it would be difficult to tell which way is up on this gray day.

The "Skylab" building which was used as laboratories. There was a lounge on the third floor. An all-sky camera on the roof photographed auroras.

Aerial view of South Pole Station when it was first built.

Aerial view of South Pole Station - Clean Air Facility visible in upper right. This was taken after several years of drifting snow.

Exploring the old South Pole Station which was abandoned in 1975.

Lieutenant John Bortniak out for a stroll at the South Pole

A cargo plane that didn't quite make it.

Remains of a wrecked cargo plane.

Lieutenant Bortniak at the controls. Already growing a nice set of whiskers. Exploring the wreck of a Hercules C-130 at the end of the runway.

This is why the South Pole has a geodesic dome. The sledding was great.

Iridescent clouds surround the sun.

Sun halo.

Sun halo and sun dogs.

Small halo, sun dogs, and arc of much larger halo nearly bisecting smaller halo.

Small halo, sun dogs, and arc of much larger halo nearly bisecting smaller halo.

Halo and sun dogs

Halo and sun dogs

Halo and sun dogs

Halo with brilliant reflection off ice surface

Halo with brilliant reflection off ice surface

Sun dog to the left of sun

Sun dog to the left of su

Halo and sundog with a brilliant larger arc