South Pole Centennial Celebration

December 14th:  the 100 year anniversary of Roald Amundsen's arrival at the South Pole.  To celebrate the event, the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, and his entourage visited the Pole (along with hundreds of other tourists).  The folks working there put on a terrific celebratory event, complete with muscial renditions of the Norwegian national anthem, a sculpted ice-bust of Amundsen (created by a Norwegian artist), and a very fancy Norwegian-themed dinner.  It seems like it was an amazing experience for our Polie brethren and I must say that I am incredibly envious of them. 

Here is a transcript of the speech given by the Prime Minister to the crowd and by live telecast to the people of Norway (courtesy of the Norwegian Governmental website):

Dear friends,
Congratulations!
Exactly one hundred years ago, on the 14th of December 1911,
five brave Norwegians led by Roald Amundsen were the first people to reach the South Pole.
We are here today to honour these five men.
We are here to celebrate one of the most outstanding achievements of mankind.
And we are here to highlight the importance of this cold continent for the warming of the globe.
14th of December 1911 was a proud day for Norway.
A young nation that had gained its full independence only six years earlier.
The polar expeditions of Roald Amundsen helped to form our new national identity.
And the qualities that enabled Amundsen, Hassel, Bjaaland, Hanssen and Wisting to reach the South Pole, were precisely those that the young nation wanted to be recognised by:
Courage, determination and endurance.
Today is also the time to pay tribute to the bravery of Robert Scott and his men.
Scott and his team paid the ultimate prize.
But their names will forever be inscribed in Polar history.
They will always be remembered for their courage and determination in reaching one of the most unhospitable places on earth.
When Amundsen reached the Pole the team put up its tent,
and they named the camp “Polheim” – Home at the Pole.
Today the South Pole is “home” for many of you who are celebrating with us today.
More than 200 people have their daily work here at the Amundsen-Scott Base during the summer season. 
I would like to thank you and the US National Science Foundation for receiving us here with such warm hospitality in a frozen environment.
Some of you have experienced the hardship of skiing to the Pole. 
You have seen the beauty and the fascination of the Antarctic wilderness. 
And you have learned how challenging and unpredictable this frozen continent can be.
Today, Antarctica is a continent of international cooperation,
regulated by a well-functioning Antarctic Treaty,
where peace and stability,
environmental protection and international research, are at the heart of our joint efforts.
Researchers from all over the world are trying to discover the secrets of this vast continent. 
The Norwegian Troll Station is at the forefront of Norwegian research in Antarctica.
Norway and the United States have a long history of scientific cooperation.
The US – Norwegian Antarctic Scientific Traverse in 2007 made important findings.
The Antarctic continent has been changing more rapidly in recent years than at any time in the past 800 years.
The loss of ice in Antarctica can have  dramatic global effects.
It is our common responsibility to save this planet for future generations.
Roald Amundsen, Robert Scott and their men were prepared to make an extraordinary effort in order to reach their ambitious goals.
We need to be prepared to do the same.
That is the best way to honour a century of science and exploration at the South Pole.
Thank you.
To mark the historic achievements a hundred years ago, it is now my privilege to unveil this bust of Roald Amundsen here at the South Pole, made by the Norwegian artist Håkon Anton Fagerås.

If you live in Europe, you might have seen live footage of Prime Minister Stoltenberg speaking at the ceremonial Pole surrounded by flags of the nations participating in the Antarctic Treaty.  (I saw some footage on the BBC.)  Otherwise, here are some links that give you a good feel for the festivities.

http://kiellanddaniel.wordpress.com/tag/jens-stoltenberg/  This is a blog written by a Materialsperson working at Pole.  Terrific photos that capture the events better than any of the reports I've seen in the media.

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Slik-er-livet-p-Sydpolen-6720391.html   - it's useful if you read Norwegian, but, if not, you can just enjoy the photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/statsministerenskontor  Official Norwegian Government photos

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76659&src=eoa-iotd  NASA's image of the day on December 14

and finally, an article that suggests that Robert Scott, though he didn't get to the Pole first and he and his men perished on the return journey, has done more for advancing scientific research in Antarctica than Amundsen did.  http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v480/n7375/full/480029a.html

Happy Anniversary, South Pole!

Antarctica in the News

December 14th marks the 100 year anniversary of Norwegian, Roald Amundsen's arrival at the South Pole.  In honor of this historic event, hundreds of tourists are descending on South Pole Station - by plane and on skis.  Additionally, the Prime Minister of Norway will make his way there to do a live broadcast back to his country (which the folks in our IT Department are working hard on supporting).  As you can imagine, there is a lot of media coverage. 

Perhaps you've already seen or heard reports on Antarctica on the TV news, on NPR radio or in magazines.  With the anniversary celebrations and the scientific research about to start at Pine Island Glacier, an ice sheet that is dangerously close to cracking (calving) off a giant iceberg - this is a big year for Antarctic public relations.

For a sample of the kinds of activities going on in the adventure travel world, check out the website of Antarctic Logistics Associates (ALE) which is one of the largest adventure tour operators in the Antarctic and a company that one of my British friends from France is working for this season.

CBS News in the US put together a nice piece of video about the South Pole - complete with footage of my current Pilates instructor, Hillary.  The reporter, Josh Landis, was working at McMurdo for the Antarctic Sun newspaper when I first started with the program in 2000.  Check it out here:  http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7390504n&tag=mncol;lst;1

The most current edition of the Antarctic Sun has an article about the anniversary activity.

Rolling Stone magazine did a fabulous lead article last year about disappearing ice sheets which focuses quite a bit of attention on Pine Island Glacier (PIG).  There is a field camp and several helicopters heading out to this remote, windswept and (supposedly) miserable location any day now.  It is hugely high-profile, especially because a giant crack in the glacier appeared this Spring.  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/on-thin-ice-20100922



NASA satellite image

It's quite an exciting time to be down here!

Erebus Glacier Tongue Camp

On a calm, warm and sunny Saturday, I got to spend a half-day as a guest Communications Technician.  One of the sea ice research camps, Erebus Glacier Tongue Camp, was closing up for the season and the buildings were about to be dragged back the 10 miles (or so) to station.  Not that the Comms Techs NEEDED assistance.  This was a small task, but travel off station requires two people (for safety reasons) and on beautiful days, the people who do fun things for work try to offer a seat in their vehicles to folks like me who don't get to leave town very often.

The sea ice camps all close right about now.  The annual sea ice is getting too thin to support the structures anthat have been placed there to support science throughout WinFly (Aug-Oct) and early Mainbody (Oct-the first wekend in December).  The camp we visited supported 7 scientists who are engaged in long-term Weddell seal studies.  Needless to say, the building where they disrobed after tagging and probing seals smelled pretty awful!

Our job was to remove the antennae, telephones, wireless router and any other IT gear from the 5 structure camp.  I was amazed at how comfortable this place was.  They had two heated spaces for sleeping (2 bunk beds in each), a big outhouse with insulated toilet seats and an incredible view of the active volcano, Mt. Erebus, from the urinal, a work/science structure (with the bad stink) and a kitchen building with a big view of Erebus through a picture window next to the dining table.  Furthermore, since camp was so close to the Station, the scientists could easily return to their rooms in town to do laundry, take showers and attend big parties.  Sounds perfect to me!




The view of volcanic Mt. Erebus (notice the smoking plume from the top) from the camp.