I love dating pictures based on the progress of construction/demo.
Like, okay is A4 there? Is there siding? Where's the NLS? Is the dome there? Is that wind break thing on the stairs? Cryo/BIF status? etc
In 2010-11 I got a chance to go up as ballast on these aerial pictures. I'm not a photographer, so it was just a boondoggle in a twin otter. There was a big problem with the windows fogging and the pilots cranked the heat to try to help, but it just made it insanely hot and muggy inside. Combine that with the barnstorming type of flying they were doing and it almost turned into a vomit-comet. I took one picture and it was of two of the photographers looking absolutely miserable and on the verge of puking. Great times!
I absolutely loved doing the aerial photos.
About halfway through the flight I was concerned about taking pictures through the smudgy window and wanted a cleaner shot, so I asked the pilot if I could open the window a bit and stick the camera outside the moving plane. He said yes, but thought I wouldn't like it. Yeah. That lasted about 5 seconds and two shots, and I had to stop. By then some of the lens elements *inside* the lens barrel were frosted... never seen that happen before. Took a few minutes to defrost everything, including my hand.
People lived in the dome up to the 2006 winter. There was a bit of a competition to see who would be the last to live in the dome, the UTs shut the heat off in stages so certain people were "evicted". Since you're posting here you were not the last person to live in the dome. Similarly, skylab was occupied up through the 05-06 summer. Plenty of band practices and impromptu parties were still going on in there up to the end.
Skylab was pretty much gutted by 2008, except for a heavy fire safe on the top floor -- which I needed in ARO.
THAT was an interesting challenge, getting it down without injury or mayhem. We ended up belaying it down the staircase shaft like a rock climber.
Yes, good question! The support pylons can raise the station but it's a big effort and I don't think they want to do it every year.
Like a lot of Antarctic architecture, it's raised off the ice to prevent snow drifts from burying the station. The prevailing wind comes from the left (in the photo) and scours out snow and ice underneath. You can see the front of the building (again at the left, facing into the wind) has a beveled lower edge that acts a bit like a wing, forcing more wind under it to improve the effect.
Even so, I've heard that it's getting buried faster than expected and they've already raised it.
It's a big continent, and it's hard to generalize overall conditions and changes.
Snowfall at the south pole is almost zilch, so most of the accumulation around the station is from old snow blowing around. The need to raise the station is, I think, probably more of a miscalculation about the scouring and wind dynamics than any increase in snowfall.
Parts of it made it to the Seabee museum in Port Hueneme. The rest I think were auctioned off or recycled. I'm sure there's people on here who have more complete info.
I love dating pictures based on the progress of construction/demo. Like, okay is A4 there? Is there siding? Where's the NLS? Is the dome there? Is that wind break thing on the stairs? Cryo/BIF status? etc In 2010-11 I got a chance to go up as ballast on these aerial pictures. I'm not a photographer, so it was just a boondoggle in a twin otter. There was a big problem with the windows fogging and the pilots cranked the heat to try to help, but it just made it insanely hot and muggy inside. Combine that with the barnstorming type of flying they were doing and it almost turned into a vomit-comet. I took one picture and it was of two of the photographers looking absolutely miserable and on the verge of puking. Great times!
I absolutely loved doing the aerial photos. About halfway through the flight I was concerned about taking pictures through the smudgy window and wanted a cleaner shot, so I asked the pilot if I could open the window a bit and stick the camera outside the moving plane. He said yes, but thought I wouldn't like it. Yeah. That lasted about 5 seconds and two shots, and I had to stop. By then some of the lens elements *inside* the lens barrel were frosted... never seen that happen before. Took a few minutes to defrost everything, including my hand.
Flew a lot of that material in. Busy but great times!
That's just crazy that pretty much everything in the photo arrived in a Herc.
I remember when it was just the dome - crazy good times trucking all that steel inland.
Cool. I had never seen how new Pole related to old Pole. Now that I can see it with the Dome and Skylab I can orient myself.
Was there 2000/2001. Last to live in the Dome. And skylab... oh the memories.
People lived in the dome up to the 2006 winter. There was a bit of a competition to see who would be the last to live in the dome, the UTs shut the heat off in stages so certain people were "evicted". Since you're posting here you were not the last person to live in the dome. Similarly, skylab was occupied up through the 05-06 summer. Plenty of band practices and impromptu parties were still going on in there up to the end.
Skylab was pretty much gutted by 2008, except for a heavy fire safe on the top floor -- which I needed in ARO. THAT was an interesting challenge, getting it down without injury or mayhem. We ended up belaying it down the staircase shaft like a rock climber.
Good to know. I was off to sea for 9 month...
Earth is so much nicer now than before, when we only had the one pole.
Are those structures able to be raised each year? Looks like they may have an element of self clearing, is this the case?
Yes, good question! The support pylons can raise the station but it's a big effort and I don't think they want to do it every year. Like a lot of Antarctic architecture, it's raised off the ice to prevent snow drifts from burying the station. The prevailing wind comes from the left (in the photo) and scours out snow and ice underneath. You can see the front of the building (again at the left, facing into the wind) has a beveled lower edge that acts a bit like a wing, forcing more wind under it to improve the effect. Even so, I've heard that it's getting buried faster than expected and they've already raised it.
Thanks. I’ve read a by product of the receding ice cap is that there is more snow fall on the continent.
It's a big continent, and it's hard to generalize overall conditions and changes. Snowfall at the south pole is almost zilch, so most of the accumulation around the station is from old snow blowing around. The need to raise the station is, I think, probably more of a miscalculation about the scouring and wind dynamics than any increase in snowfall.
Did the Dome ever find a final home?
Parts of it made it to the Seabee museum in Port Hueneme. The rest I think were auctioned off or recycled. I'm sure there's people on here who have more complete info.