Monday, March 30, 2020

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station


We just learned about the Orcadas Base.

Another research station in Antarctica is the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

This is a station actually at the North Pole, and was built by the United States in 1956.
A few buildings have been made there, and the one that is there now was built in 2003.
It is 80,000 square feet, two floors and sometimes has up to 200 people living there.

At the south pole it is 6 months of sunshine in the summer and then 6 months of darkness in the winter.
More people live there in the summer to do studies on the life there, and then in the winter the dark skies all day are great for looking at the stars.
In the summer it is usually about -15 degrees F, and in the winter it is usually about -75 degrees F.
The warmest it has ever gotten there was 9.9 degrees F, and the coldest it got was -118 degrees F.

Because so much snow falls at the South Pole, the building can actually be raised or lowered a whole floor to stay above the snow.




(from: wikipedia - amundsen-scott south pole station)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Enceinte