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Elevated Station Design for the South Pole Redevelopment Project
at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
1. Abstract
Historically, the facilities of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station have been designed as below-surface structures. Within several seasons of their initial construction on the surface, they drift over with snow and except for pedestrian and vehicular access points which are manually cleared, remain buried. Despite the potential advantages of facilities designed to remain elevated above the snow surface, such construction has until now, been limited to smaller ancillary buildings.
To remain permanently above-surface, structures at the pole must be designed to overcome both the localized snow drifting issues that they cause, and the annual accumulation of snow at the site. The current redevelopment of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station represents the most ambitious attempt by any nation to establish a significant above-surface facility in an environment such as the South Pole.
This paper will discuss the rationale for the development of permanent above-surface facilities at the South Pole Station, examine previous examples of such structures that have been, or are currently operational in Antarctica, and review the features of the new Amundsen-Scott Station that qualify it as being state-of-the-art in South Pole elevated station design.
Proceed to next section: 2. Background
Table of Contents
1. Abstract
2. Background
3. Old Casey Station
4. Filchner Station
5. Halley V
6. A New Vision for Amundsen-Scott Station
7. Amundsen-Scott Station Design Features
8. Conclusion
9. References
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