AERIAL PHOTOS OF THE SOUTH POLE

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You are now approaching the South Pole.

 
 
OK, you're getting closer now.  To your
left is the Dark Sector and to right is
everything else.

 
 
The runway is on the left edge of the picture.  The taxiway pulls right along side Summer Camp.  At the bottom right are the Berms, followed by Summer Camp, and then the Arches, the Dome, Skylab, and ARO is the building all by itself in the snow.

 
 
These are the Berms.  This is where the
majority of our inventory is kept, in crates, boxes, and milvans.  What is on the Berms, is a deep dark mystery.  Many things you think are there - aren't, and it is possible to find things you never expected.

 
 
Moving a bit closer to the Dome, is Summer Camp.  The structures in two rows there in the center of the picture are the Jamesways.  They are the "tents" used for summer berthing.  The bright blue structures at the right center of the photo are the Hypertats.  They are basically metal Jamesways, and although they used to be used only for summer berthing, we were the first Winter-Over crew lucky enough to stay in them all winter.  Next to the Hypertats, and literally on the edge of the photo is the El Dorm.  Again, a building once used only for the summer, it was put into winter berthing use last year.  The Jamesways, Hypertats, and the El Dorm are what is considered Summer Camp.

 
 
Here we are at the Dome.  Skylab is the
red tower to the left, and the Arches are there to the right.  The far Arch is the New Garage Arch, and the closer one is what houses the Gym, and what used to be the Carp Shop and the Old Garage, both being used by Cargo presently.  You can see the end of the current Power Plant Arch sticking out of the snow. The BioMed Arch and the Fuel Arch, situated on the other side of the entrance are completely covered in snow.

 
 
The main building project this summer and winter was the New Power Plant Arch.  This picture shows the hole they had to dig to build it with a couple of Arch pieces laying on their sides.  The huge snow pile there is the displaced snow, and it was mostly back filled in around the arches once the new one was completed.  This picture also shows buildings such as the Cargo office, the Rodwell, Do Not Freeze, and the B.I.F.

 
 
An even closer look at the Dome and the Arches shows where they come to fill the water tanks used to transfer water to Summer Camp.  The 3,600 gallon holding tank for the Rodwell is in the Power Plant.  The Challenger drives right up to the Arch there to fill the tanks.

 
 
This is ARO which stands in the middle of nowhere, because it is in the Clean Air Section.  This is where all Atmosphere tests and experiments are done.  ARO, the El Dorm, and MAPO are all the same type of raised blue buildings with the bubble windows.

 
 
This picture shows the Dome and then the Dark Sector in the distance.  The heavy path is what vehicles use and the light one is the walking path.  As you can see, the runway cuts across both paths, so there are Crossing Beacons at the intersections which show if it is safe to cross.

 
 
Last but not least we have the Dark Sector.  The main building is MAPO.  All the activity there to the right shows the construction of the new tower being built for DASI, the newest telescope at the Pole.  Viper is the telescope to the left of MAPO.  The white building lower center is ASTRO, which is presently the other science building in the Dark Sector.  The activity off the left side of the photo is the construction of DSL, the newest science building in the Dark Sector.

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