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Elevated Station Design for the South Pole Redevelopment Project
at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
4. Filchner Station (77° 03’ S, 50° 03’ W)
As Old Casey was approaching the last several years of its occupancy, Germany was implementing a new approach to overcoming snow drifting and deposition on the opposite side of the continent. In 1982, they completed construction of a small above surface summer station for up to twelve personnel on the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in the southern portion of the Weddell Sea. The ice shelf site of the Filchner Station was characterized by an annual snow accumulation of approximately half a meter, strong winter winds, and seaward drift of the ice shelf on the order of 1000 meters per year. The German designers’ solution to overcoming the annual snow deposition was to place their modular accommodations atop a jackable structural platform on steel columns. The platform was initially elevated 3 to 4 meters above the snow surface. Every 2 to 3 years, the platform was lowered to the surface using a system of winches and cables, the columns were extended by approximately 1 meter, and then the platform was rehoisted to its new height. The entire process took 3 to 4 days, and continued to work effectively until February of 1999 when a several thousand square meter portion of the ice shelf calved and took Filchner with it (unmanned at the time). The station has since been removed from the iceberg and is in storage.
Proceed to next section: 5. Halley V
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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