Byline: Joseph B. Verrengia Rocky Mountain News Science Writer
``Memo from the South Pole: Ambient temperature of minus-92F with a windchill of minus-153F.''
Just reading about such extreme weather can make you shiver.
Living in it can kill you in a minute.
Twenty-eight people, including Shawndra Holmberg of Northglenn and Chris Cleavelin of Denver, belong to this year's ``over-winter crew'' at the South Pole research station, the world's most remote laboratory.
Using the Internet, the Rocky Mountain News will periodically interview via e-mail the crew, which is managed by Antarctic Support Associates of Englewood.
Protected by an aging geodesic dome that is slowly sinking into the ice, the team has pledged to spend a year collecting data from an array of experiments ranging from measuring infrared radiation from distant stars to drilling glacier cores to study the Earth's ancient climate.
The next six months will be the toughest. March 21 marked the winter soltice in the southern hemisphere as the sun slipped beneath the Antarctic horizon. The over-winter crew must operate in the bitter polar night until the sun peeks out again in September, while their families and colleagues back home bask in the long, gentle days of summer.
But by surviving the planet's harshest wilderness, the team will maintain the United States' dominion over the White Continent and help prevent it from being carved up for mineral and fishery resources by competing international and commercial interests.
Last September, crew members trained at the Rocky Mountain Fire Academy in north Denver. Under a broiling midday sun, they donned 70 pounds of equipment and sweated to extinguish flames and rescue fallen co-workers through dense smoke under a stopwatch deadline.
The team includes scientists, government policy analysts, mechanics, even a former NATO paratrooper. No matter how many academic degrees one holds, nobody can shirk housekeeping duties at the Pole. Everyone runs to help when the emergency alarm rings.
``If our house catches on fire, we're dead,'' said University of Chicago astronomer David Rapchun. ``If the electricity generator burns or breaks down, we're dead.''
Unfathomable cold is another of their demons. The South Pole record is minus-117 ambient and minus-220 wind chill, but the minus-92 degree weather right around the solstice - polar autumn - wasn't much warmer.
Then there is the lack of stimuli. The pole is a sterile high-altitude landscape - flat, lifeless and white. The only noise is the howling wind.
In recent years, e-mail and satellite communications have linked the polar station to the rest of the world. But airplane service to the station's ice runway is suspended during the polar winter, and the National Science Foundation last year stopped the midwinter mail and cargo drop to save money. In early April, the crew consumed the last of its fresh fruits and vegetables.
``On Feb. 12 the last two planes came in to bring more supplies and take the last 80 summer people out,'' said Robert Schwarz, a German scientist associated with the University of Wisconsin. ``After take-off, the crew made a fly-by at low altitude. We followed it until it vanished in a wall of drifting snow. That's it - no more flights until the beginning of November.''
Until then, they must husband their food and fuel, maintain civility and fix whatever breaks. In previous winters, the repairs list has included lights, plumbing and other life support systems in an aging outpost that was originally scheduled to be replaced a decade ago, but must endure until the early 21st century.
For some, it's all part of the harsh challenge of the Pole.
``The Antarctic gets into the blood,'' said station manager Don McCreight, who is on his sixth mission. ``The austerity of the place holds its own magic.
``The vastness and the cold can be intimidating. But it also serves the purpose of letting us know how tenuous our presence here is. Humankind needs that sense of humility.''
Q: How brutal is the weather? Is there a discernible difference between minus-50 degrees and minus-70?
Don McCreight: Exposed flesh freezes very quickly at these temperatures. The feeling is akin to a blowtorch being passed over the skin, especially the nose, ears and cheeks. Personally, I hope we break the old record this winter. Being of Nordic heritage, I perfer the cold to the heat.
Christopher Cleavelin: It seems like nothing to be in minus-50. It's when the temperature gets into the minus-70 range that I noticed a change from ``Yeah, it's cold . . . '' to ``Is it COLD out there!'' You learn how to dress for it real quick.
Shawndra Holmberg: Less than a year ago I had been freezing in Hawaii with a sweatshirt on and temperatures in the 70s. Now at daily temperatures of minus-85, minus-70m seems warm. I think nothing of walking out the door with my regular indoor clothes on and going to the power plant (also under the dome) for the nightly check.
If you go outside and into the wind, that is a different story. You take your hand out of your glove to snap a picture and your hand hurts from the cold.
Q: Describe the sensory deprivation of the polar winter.
Cleavelin: There are no smells here except for what people have brought. No plants, animals, dirt, nothing. Just fuel, food and human odors.
After my first over-winter, getting off the plane in New Zealand was one of the most intense experiences of my life. When the back of the C-141 opened it made me giddy. The grass, the rain, the soil, the flowers - it was overwhelming.
Holmberg: Right now the sun is below the horizon and all you can see is a streak of yellow and orange. There is still enough light to see the buildings, but it won't be long now.
McCreight: If you're downwind of the power plant, the sense of diesel is hard to get away from. We have put up flaglines to help people find their way in the dark. Some of the scientists conduct research at what we call the Dark Sector, which is across the runway, probably a 1 1/2 mile walk. They take flashlights and radios now anytime they go outside.
Q. Is this any fun, or is it just an endurance test?
Cleavelin: It's a South Pole tradition to do the 300 Club. When the temperature is at minus-100 you pile into the plus-200 degree sauna buck naked except for footwear. When we can no longer stand the heat, there is a mass exodus outside into the nice cold air. It feels like heaven. I have done this incredibly idiotic, yet somehow liberating, feat three times.
Holmberg: We had a party for the sunset just before it touched the horizon. I saw my first star in 5 1/2 months the other day.
It's hard to describe my feelings when I saw the last of the sun for 6 months, but it was exciting.
Robert Schwartz: On Christmas Eve we had the famous ``race around the world.'' That is 3 laps (2.7 miles) around the geographical South Pole. The track was quite soft and a strong wind caused a wind chill of minus-58. But it was a lot of fun. We also had a gift exchange. On Easter, we had an egg hunt around the station. This was also a time to look for lost things because everything is observed carefully.
Q: How do 28 people remain civil and upbeat for six months in the dark and cold?
McCreight: Morale is very good. These are motivated, intelligent, energetic folks. Everyone will have their down times; that's the nature of humans no matter where they are.
There is no kangaroo court. The humor and unwillingness to tolerate bad manners tends to discourage runaway egotists and troublemakers. It can be very pointed and is very effective in keeping people on their best behavior.
Cleavelin: It's exciting and incredibly difficult all rolled into one. Everyone has highs and lows. It's just that here the peaks are higher and the lows are lower. It can be an exhilarating and depressing place to survive in.
I miss it there (Denver). I'm a huge Avalanche fan.
Q: Do you have free time? What do you do for fun?
McCreight: Most of our social interaction revolves around mealtime. Our cook accommodates diverse palates exceptionaly well, and her deserts are incredible.
We have a video library of close to 1,500 films. Quiet conversation, reading and guitar-playing seem to be the entertainments of choice.
Cleavelin: We watch whatever we can get our hands on that may be new, and then we watch it all over again and again. Robert Schwarz is teaching us German. The opportunity is great and a lot of fun, too.
Holmberg: Tonight we have pizza for dinner. On Tuesdays, the women get together and talk, mostly. We have met in the sauna, and we have put a puzzle together. We watched the PBS series on the Civil Rights movement. Most Fridays we watch The X-Files.
Q: Is it all worth it?
McCreight: People seem to come to the ice for various reasons, but the common theme seems to be the pride they express over being able to cope with the altitude and cold. I personally feel a strong sense of pride in dealing with the adverse conditions.
The life most of us live in the States is one of dealing with the mounting stresses of everyday life rather than physical adversities. I think folks that come to the ice are happy to leave those stresses behind and do battle on a more tangible level - the elements.
CAPTION(S):
Color Photo (2), Color Illustration
An aging geodesic dome is home from March to September for the crew that will confront the hostile environment of the South Pole. By Courtesy of National Science Foundation.
CAPTION: German scientist Robert Schwarz who is associated with the University of Wisconsin, stands next to the ceremonial South Pole. By Courtesy of National Science Foundation..
CAPTION: Locator Map of Antarctica. By Eric Baker / Rocky Mountain News.
