The 8760-Hour Day A Year at the South Pole

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The 8760-Hour DayA Year at the South Pole
Odyssey Space Research 3-11-09

• Jason Lynette Stauch

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USAP

• National Science Foundation (NSF)
• United States Antarctic Program
• 3 Stations
• McMurdo
• Palmer
• Amundsen-Scott
• South Pole Station
• Several Field Camps
• Raytheon Polar Services

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You Want to Go Where?

• 1999 Lynette meets someone from program
• Plan Post graduate school (2004)
• 2002 Move to LA
• Spring 2005 Seriously investigated potential
  opportunities and decided to go for it
• Spring 2006 Applied for jobs/interviewed
• Early summer 2006 Job potentials at McMurdo
  South Pole

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Crazy October 2006

• Early October The Farewell Tour
• Friday, Oct 6th Burglarized
• Sunday, Oct 8th Straight drive to Denver
• Monday, Oct 9th Shopping sprees begin
• Tuesday, Oct 10th Lynette in Training
• Wednesday, Oct 11th - Closed (sold) house
  Orientation Training
• Thursday, Oct 12th Fly to Christchurch

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Christchurch

• Gear up Last look at plant life

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Christchurch to McMurdo
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McMurdo 14 Days of Waiting
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McMurdo 14 Days of Waiting
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McMurdo 14 Days of Waiting
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McMurdo 14 Days of Waiting
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McMurdo 14 Days of Waiting
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McMurdo 14 Days of Waiting
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Finally! Flying to Pole
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Pole Arrival Historical Day

• 50th Anniversary of the 1st landing at South Pole

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South Pole First Impressions

• Surreal We are actually here!
• Another planet
• Felt far-spread

• Not as cold as we expected at -50F
• Small fish in small pond
• Concerns about Wintering potential effects

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Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

• 1957
• Old Pole
• 1975
• Dome

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Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

• 2006-Elevated Station
• 60,000 square feet
• Dorm-style living
• Community bathrooms
• Lounges (Bose systems)
• Sauna

• Work-out gym
• Indoor sports gym
• Hydroponic Greenhouse
• Galley Bar
• Workspaces
• Store

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Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
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Utilities

• Power Plant
• 675kW
• 4 generators (CAT)
• Jet Fuel (AN-8)
• 45 tanks
• 10,000 gallons each

• Water
• Rodwell Roman times
• Max at 14 gal/min
• 25 gal/person/week
• 2, 2-min showers per week

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Recycling Waste

• Sorting the Trash
• Paper, plastic, wood, glass, aluminum, cardboard,
  burnables, food, ferrous metal, non-ferrous
  metal, non-R, construction debris
• Skua
• Human waste Old Rodwells

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Summer Camp
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Outbuildings

• Clean Air Sector
• Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO)
• NOAA
• Aurora/UV Experiments
• Field Instruments

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Outbuildings

• Dark Sector
• Ice Cube Lab
• Dark Sector Lab
• 10M Telescope
• Bicep
• MAPO
• QUAD
• AMANDA

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Ice Cube

• Drill Holes 2 km Deep!

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Ice Cube

• Deploy sensors in 1-km cube.

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Ice Cube

• Deploy sensors in 1-km cube.

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10-Meter Telescope
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10-Meter Telescope
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Outbuildings

• R. F. Sector
• Cargo
• Storage Berms
• R. F. Building
• Ray-Dome
• Antennas

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South Pole Science

• Excellent Observatory for Atmosphere and Space
• Clean Atmosphere
• Thin Air
• Low Light Pollution
• Dark Sector ARO
• Space Sciences
• Earth/Sun Interaction
• Magnetic Field
• Seismic
• GPS

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The Grind

• Infrastructure (Raytheon)
• Food Service Cooks, materials
• Facilities, Engineering, Maintenance and
  Construction
• Plumbing, electrical, carpentry, design,
  utilities, station upkeep, engineering
• Cargo incoming/outgoing, storage, supply
• Science Support smaller science projects
• Station Management
• supervision, management, scheduling, health
  safety
• Science
• About 1/3 of station is employed by scientific
  institutions

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Home Life

• Your own space
• The store (the only place to spend money)
• Lounging
• Exercise (Gym, sports, activities, outdoors)
• Movies (DVDs, Videos, TV Shows, Downloads)
• Pool and Ping Pong
• The Galley Bar and 2.0 Bar
• Fabulous Food
• Communicating with the Outside

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Emergence Response

• Entire winter crew is on emergency response team
• 2-Week pre-ice training
• One drill per month
• Several false alarms
• Couple of close calls
• One real response

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Wildlife (or lack thereof)

• No wildlife at Pole
• Dogs no longer allowed in Antarctica
• Coastal Station Wildlife

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How Cold Is It?

• Summer 0 to -40 F
• (-20 on average)
• Winter -40 to -100 F
• (-70 on average)
• Highest Recorded 7.5 F
• Lowest Recorded -117 F
• Low Winds (typically lt 10 knots, rarely gt20)
• Very rarely snows
• Antarctica is the driest continent on the planet
• Also the highest South Pole is at 9300 ft,
  9500-11000 physiological altitude)

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Summer Time

• Oct. 31, 2006 to Feb. 18, 2007
• Sun 24 hours/day
• Average of 250 people
• Station population fluctuated on daily basis
• 5-7 flights per day, 6 days per week
• Visitors (private expeditions)
• 10-m Telescope Construction

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The Long, Dark Winter

• Feb. 18 Oct. 20, 2007
• 54 People
• No flights in or out
• Darkness 24 hours/day
• Awesome stars and aurora
• Sundays Leftovers
• No Freshies
• 300 Club

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The Big Events The Holidays (Thanksgiving,
Christmas, and New Years)
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The Big Events Geographic Pole Moving Ceremony

• Moves 3m each year
• January 1st
• New marker
• designed by winter-over
• manufactured at Pole
• unveiled for the 1st time at the ceremony

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The Big Events Summer(Around the World 5k,
Bingo, Misc. Parties, RR)
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Summer Slideshow The Planes!
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Summer Slideshow The Planes!
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Summer Slideshow The Planes!
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Summer Slideshow The Planes!
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Summer Slideshow Weather Balloon Launch
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Summer Slideshow Snow Stakes
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Summer Slideshow Snow Stakes
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Summer Slideshow Snow Stakes
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Summer Slideshow Snow Stakes
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Summer Slideshow Snow Stakes
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Summer Slideshow
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Summer Slideshow Scott Glacier
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Summer Slideshow Scott Glacier
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Summer Slideshow - Camping
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Summer Slideshow - Camping
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Summer Slideshow - Airdrop
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Summer Slideshow - Helicopters
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Summer Slideshow - Helicopters
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Summer Slideshow
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Summer Slideshow
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Summer Slideshow
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Summer Slideshow
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Summer Slideshow
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Summer Slideshow
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Summer Slideshow
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Summer Slideshow
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Summer Slideshow
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The Big Events Station Closing
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The Big Events Station Closing
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The Big Events Sunset
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The Big Events Sunset
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The Big Events Sunset
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The Big Events Sunset
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The Big Events Winter(BF5K, Fundraiser,
Birthday Parties, Cinco de Mayo, St. Patties
Day, Wet T-shirt)
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The Big Events The Race to McMurdo
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The Big Events Midwinter
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The Night Sky
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Auroras
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Auroras
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Auroras
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Auroras
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Auroras
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Auroras
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Auroras
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Auroras
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The Big Events Lunar Eclipse
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The Big Events Sunrise
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Winter-over photo
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The Big Events Station Opening
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Winter-Over Ceremony Antarctica Service Medal

• Symbology.
• Black dark blue outer bands, 5/12 of width
• 5 months of Antarctic darkness
• Center portion, by its size and colors Medium
  blue to light blue pale blue to white
• 7 months of solar illumination, auora
  australis
• Although the former rigors and dangers of
  Antarctic exploration have largely been banished
  by technology, the words on the reverse of this
  medal are yet a wise injunction to those who go
  to the Antarctic
• COURAGE
• SACRIFICE
• DEVOTION

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Getting Off The Ice

• As time approaches, get more and more anxious
• Tension gets high with weather delays
• Invasion of the orange people
• Becoming germophobic
• Goodbyes and mixed emotions
• Brief stay in MacTown
• The wonderful smells of Christchurch

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A Years Worth of Personal Growth

• The down sides
• Become self-centered
• Antisocial
• Thinking slowed down
• Cheap
• Difficult to fit in to normal society

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A Years Worth of Personal Growth

• Frugal
• New business owners
• Memories of an incredible experience
• Formation of a new family
• New skills and perspectives
• Leadership and independence
• Hit the road running

• The up sides

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Go Big or Go Home?

• Return trip to US included in contract
• Can also apply credit to travel
• Decided to apply to Round-The-World ticket
• of stops vs. milage-based
• Started planning around mid-winter

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To be continued

• For more go to
• http//www.stauchy.net