Caroline Alexander
A century ago, Briton Robert Scott lost and Norwegian Roald Amundsen won the battle for the South Pole. Why did Amundsen win?
“Visibility is poor. Terrible wind from the south. Minus 52 Celsius. Dogs do not tolerate cold well. It’s hard for people to move in frozen clothes, it’s difficult to regain strength - they have to spend nights in the cold... It’s unlikely that the weather will improve.”
The famous Norwegian Roald Amundsen made this brief entry in his diary on September 12, 1911, when his expedition was heading to the South Pole.
The conditions were harsh even for Antarctica, and it is not surprising - the Norwegians set out on a campaign from their base too early, even before the onset of the polar spring and relatively favorable weather. As a result, the dogs died, it was impossible to walk without them, and the people had frostbitten feet and could recover no earlier than in a month. What made Amundsen, an experienced and prudent traveler with a brilliant polar career behind him, act so imprudently?
Captivated by dreams. Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was born in 1872 into a wealthy family of shipowners and sailors. Already at the age of 25, as the second mate on the Belgica ship, he participated in a scientific Antarctic expedition. And when the Belgica got stuck in the ice, its crew members inevitably became the world’s first winterers in Antarctica.
The sailors, unprepared for such a turn of events, survived mainly thanks to the efforts of Amundsen and the doctor Frederick Cook (who later, alas, tarnished his good name unfounded claims that he was the first to conquer the North Pole and Mount McKinley).
Amundsen kept a diary, even then approaching the issue of organizing winter quarters with interest. “As for the tent, it is convenient in terms of shape and size, but is too unstable when strong wind", he noted in February 1898. In the future, persistently, year after year, the Norwegian will inventively improve his polar equipment. And the unscheduled hard winter, overshadowed by despair and illness of the crew, only strengthened him in his desire to fulfill his old dream.
This dream originated in childhood, when the future polar explorer read how, in search of the Northwest Passage, Atlantic Ocean John Franklin's expedition perished in the Pacific. Long years this story haunted the Norwegian. Without abandoning his navigator career, Amundsen began to simultaneously plan Arctic expedition. And in 1903, the dream finally began to come true - Amundsen sailed north on the small fishing vessel Gjoa with six crew members (Franklin took 129 people with him). The purpose of the expedition was to find the Northwest Passage from east to west from Greenland to Alaska, and also to determine the current coordinates of the north magnetic pole (they change over time).
The Gjoa team, carefully preparing to conquer the Northwest Passage, worked in the Arctic for three whole winters - and eventually managed to navigate the ship among the islands, shoals and ice of the Canadian Arctic archipelago to the Beaufort Sea, and then the Bering Sea. No one has ever succeeded in doing this before. “My childhood dream came true at that moment,” Amundsen wrote in his diary on August 26, 1905. - My chest felt tight Strange feeling“I was exhausted, my strength left me - but I could not hold back my tears of joy.”
Teach me, native. However, the energy left the enterprising Norwegian for only a short time. Even during the expedition on the schooner "Joa", Amundsen had the opportunity to observe the way of life of the Netsilik Eskimos, learning the secrets of survival in the harsh Arctic. “There is a joke that Norwegians are born with skis on their feet,” says polar historian Harald Jolle, “but besides skis, there are a lot of important skills and skills." Therefore, not only Amundsen, but also other European travelers diligently adopted the experience of the aborigines. Thus, another Norwegian, Amundsen’s senior contemporary and comrade, the great polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, learned from the Sami, the indigenous northern people of Norway, how to dress correctly, move through the snowy desert and get food in the cold. After the expedition to the Gjoa, Amundsen could tell how to travel in the harshest regions: loose clothing made from skins reindeer, in which the body breathes and retains heat; fur shoes, dog sleds, snowshoes. The Norwegian polar explorer also learned how to build Eskimo dwellings - ice caves and igloos. And Amundsen could now put all this knowledge into practice: he enthusiastically prepared to conquer the North Pole. But suddenly, for some reason, he abruptly changed the geographical vector and rushed to the extreme south.
It was probably due to the news that reached the Norwegian: Robert Peary had already visited the North Pole. Whether Piri actually visited there has not yet been established, but Amundsen only wanted to be the first everywhere.
It must be said that the South Pole, not yet conquered in those days, was the cherished dream of all discoverers, and the race for it, in terms of the intensity of passions, anticipated the space race. Roald Amundsen dreamed that conquering the South Pole would bring him not only fame, but also money for future expeditions.
For many months, Amundsen and his team stocked up on everything they needed, carefully thinking through every little detail, strictly selecting provisions, clothing, and equipment. In January 1911, Roald Amundsen, a 38-year-old seasoned, experienced polar explorer, sets up a base camp in the Antarctic Welsh Bay. Even though he had stepped onto hitherto unexplored ground, snow and ice lay all around him - an element he knew well. And suddenly - this mysterious false start in September, which jeopardized the entire expedition.
Amundsen VS Scott. And the reason was simple: at the same time, a British Antarctic expedition under the command of Captain Robert Falcon Scott was preparing to go to the South Pole. Today we know that one of the expeditions was destined for a brilliant victory, while the other was destined for defeat and painful tragic death. What determined the outcome of the battle for the pole?
What if Scott ends up first? — this thought drove Amundsen forward. But the Norwegian would not have become great if his ambition had not been combined with prudence. Having set out on a campaign prematurely in September 1911, just four days later he adequately assessed the situation, said to himself “stop” and decided to “go back as soon as possible and wait for the real spring.”
In his diary, Amundsen wrote: “To stubbornly continue the journey, risking losing people and animals - I cannot allow this. To win the game, you need to act wisely." Returning to the Framheim base (named after his ship Fram, which means "forward" in Norwegian), Amundsen was in such a hurry that two of the participants reached the camp even a day later than him. “This is not an expedition. This is panic,” Hjalmar Johansen, the most experienced polar explorer on the team, told him.
Amundsen did not take Hjalmar into the new detachment, which on October 20 set off for the second assault on the Pole. Amundsen and his four companions followed four loaded sleighs on skis. Each sleigh weighing 400 kilograms was pulled by a team of 13 dogs. People and animals had to travel more than 1,300 kilometers, descending and climbing monstrous chasms in glaciers (received emotional names from grateful Norwegians, such as the Devil's Glacier), passing abysses and ice in the Queen Maud Mountains and then conquering the Polar Plateau. Every second the weather threatened with another dangerous surprise.
But everything turned out well. “So we have arrived,” Amundsen wrote in his diary on December 14, 1911, right on time.
Leaving “Polheim” (as the team members dubbed the camp at the South Pole), Amundsen wrote a letter on notepaper to King Haakon VII of Norway “and a couple of lines to Scott, who, in all likelihood, will be the first to get here after us.” This letter ensured that even if something happened to Amundsen's people, the world would still know about his achievement.
Scott, having reached the Pole a month later than Amundsen, found this letter and nobly kept it - but could not personally hand it over. All five members of the British team died on the way back. The search team found the letter a year later next to Scott's body.
It is difficult to compare, in the words of the legendary chronicler of the British expedition, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Amundsen’s “business operation” and Scott’s “first-class tragedy.” One of the members of the English team, having frostbitten feet, secretly went into a deadly snowstorm so that his comrades would not have to carry him. The other, already exhausted, did not throw away the samples rocks. Scott and the last two members of his squad did not reach the food warehouse only 17 kilometers.
And yet, in order to find out the reasons for this tragedy, we can try to understand the differences between the approaches of Scott and Amundsen. Amundsen brought dogs with him; Scott - pony and motor sleigh. Amundsen moved on skis - he and his team were great skiers - Scott could not boast of this. Amundsen prepared three times more supplies than Scott - Scott suffered from hunger and scurvy. The preparation of the Norwegian expedition is evidenced by the fact that it left extra supplies on the way back. On January 26, 1912, the Norwegians triumphantly returned to base - the British walked for another two months after this date, when the weather became truly unbearable.
Some of Scott's mistakes can be understood if we remember that he relied on the experience of his predecessors - his compatriot and rival Ernest Shackleton used ponies as draft force and almost reached the South Pole. And we must not lose sight of the fact that the British, having discovered the news of Amundsen’s primacy at the Pole, were in an extremely depressed state of mind, which may have fatally affected the resources of their bodies.
However, many researchers believe that the fundamental difference between Amundsen and Scott is determined not by the details of the organization, but general approach to the equipment of the expedition: in one case professional, in the other - amateur. If a Norwegian goes on a hike, he is obliged to provide everything in order to return safe and sound. For the British, it was about struggle, heroism and overcoming. They relied not on professionalism, but on fortitude. Today such a view would be considered irresponsible. “The way Amundsen prepared for his expeditions is an example for me to follow,” says Borge Ousland, the Norwegian explorer who was the first to cross Antarctica alone. “He was always ready to learn from others. He clearly defined the problem and looked for ways to solve it.”
Life is in the Arctic. Having won the race for the Pole, Amundsen had no intention of resting on his laurels. In July 1918, he returned to the Arctic to fulfill his promise to Nansen and engage in scientific work: to study the movement of floating ice on the schooner Maud.
But his soul yearned for global discoveries, and in the 1920s, following the trends of the times, Amundsen undertook several unsuccessful attempts fly over the North Pole. And only in 1926, the airship "Norway" (pilot - Italian Umberto Nobile, commander - Amundsen) crossed the Arctic by air for the first time in history.
But financially, Amundsen turned out to be much less fortunate than his charismatic compatriot and mentor Nansen: neither books nor lectures brought the polar explorer the expected material well-being. Embittered by lack of money, he quarreled with friends, including Nobile. But when the airship Nobile disappeared somewhere over the Arctic in May 1928, Amundsen, who was preparing for his wedding, persuaded his friends to give him money for a search plane and rushed to the Arctic, where search parties from all over the world were then sent. Nobile's team was then rescued by Soviet sailors.
And shortly before that, in the Arctic, searching not for another unexplored point on the Earth, but for a man, his friend and rival, he went missing famous discoverer Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen.
Routes of the expeditions of Scott and Amundsen
Amundsen and Scott: teams and equipment
nat-geo.ru
Scott vs. Amundsen: The Story of the Conquest of the South Pole
Ivan Siyak
The rivalry between the British and Norwegian expeditions, who sought to reach the center of Antarctica, is one of the most dramatic geographical discoveries in the history.
In 1909, the South Pole remained the last of the major geographical trophies not taken. It was expected that the United States would enter into a fierce battle over it with the British Empire. However, the leading American polar explorers Cook and Peary at that time focused on the Arctic, and the British expedition of Captain Robert Scott on the Terra Nova vessel received a temporary head start. Scott was in no hurry: the three-year program included extensive scientific research and methodical preparation for the trip to the Pole.
These plans were confused by the Norwegians. Having received a message about the conquest of the North Pole, Roald Amundsen did not want to be the second there and secretly sent his ship "Fram" to the South. In February 1911 he was already taking British officers at a camp on the Ross Glacier. “There is no doubt that Amundsen’s plan is a serious threat to ours,” Scott wrote in his diary. The race has begun.
Captain Scott
Roald Amundsen
In the preface to his memoirs, one of the members of the Terra Nova expedition later wrote: “For scientific research, give me Scott; for a jerk to the pole - Amundsen; pray to Shackleton for salvation.”
Perhaps a penchant for the arts and sciences is one of the few reliably known positive qualities Robert Scott. His literary talent especially clearly manifested in his own diary, which became the basis for the myth of the hero, fallen victim circumstances.
Cracker, unsociable, human-function - Roald Amundsen was created to achieve results. This planning maniac called adventures the unfortunate consequence of poor preparation.
Team
The composition of Scott's expedition shocked the polar explorers of that time, numbering 65 people, including the Terra Nova crew, twelve scientists and cameraman Herbert Ponting. Five went on a trip to the Pole: the captain took with him the cavalryman and groom Ots, the chief scientific program Wilson, his assistant, the supply manager Evans, and at the last moment the sailor Bowers. This spontaneous decision is considered fatal by many experts: the amount of food and equipment, even skis, was designed only for four.
Captain Scott's team. Photo by the Norwegian National Library
Amudsen's team could win any of the modern winter ultramarathons. Nine people landed with him in Antarctica. No employees mental work- these were, first of all, physically strong men who possessed a set of skills necessary for survival. They were good skiers, many knew how to drive dogs, were qualified navigators, and only two did not have polar experience. The five best of them went to the Pole: the path for Amundsen's teams was paved by the Norwegian cross-country champion.
Roald Amundsen's team. Photo by the Norwegian National Library
Equipment
Like all Norwegian polar explorers of that time, Amundsen was a proponent of studying Eskimo ways of adapting to extreme cold. His expedition dressed in anoraks and kamikki boots, improved during the winter. “I would call any polar expedition without fur clothing inadequately equipped,” wrote the Norwegian. On the contrary, the cult of science and progress, burdened by the imperial “white man's burden,” did not allow Scott to benefit from the experience of the Aborigines. The British wore suits made of wool and rubberized fabric.
Modern research - in particular, blowing in a wind tunnel - has not revealed a significant advantage of one of the options.
On the left is Roald Amundsen's equipment, on the right is Scott's.
Transport
Amundsen's tactics were both effective and brutal. His four 400-kilogram sleigh with food and equipment was pulled by 52 Greenland huskies. As they moved toward their goal, the Norwegians killed them, fed them to other dogs, and ate them themselves. That is, as the load decreased, the transport, which was no longer needed, itself turned into food. 11 huskies returned to base camp.
Dog team on Roald Amundsen's expedition. Photo by the Norwegian National Library
Scott's complex transportation plan included the use of a motorized sled, Mongolian ponies, a team of Siberian huskies, and a final push on his own feet. An easily predictable failure: the sleigh quickly broke down, the ponies were dying of cold, there were too few huskies. For many hundreds of kilometers, the British themselves harnessed themselves to the sleigh, and the load on each one reached almost a hundredweight. Scott considered this rather an advantage - in the British tradition, the researcher had to reach the goal without “ outside help" Suffering turned achievement into feat.
Motorized sleds on Scott's expedition
Top: Mongolian ponies on Scott's expedition. Below: The Brits are pulling the weight
Food
Scott's failed transportation strategy led his people to starvation. By dragging a sled on their feet, they significantly increased the duration of the journey and the amount of calories required for such physical activity. At the same time, the British were unable to carry the required amount of provisions.
The quality of the food also affected. Unlike Norwegian biscuits, which contained wholemeal flour, oatmeal and yeast, British biscuits were made from pure wheat. Before reaching the Pole, Scott's team suffered from scurvy and nervous disorders, associated with vitamin B deficiency. She did not have enough food for the trip back and did not have enough strength to walk to the nearest warehouse.
About the nutrition of the Norwegians, it will be enough to say that on the way back they began to throw away excess food to lighten the sleigh.
Stop. Expedition of Roald Amundsen. Photo by the Norwegian National Library
To the Pole and back
The distance from the Norwegian base to the pole was 1,380 kilometers. It took Amundsen's team 56 days to complete it. Dog sleds made it possible to carry away more than one and a half tons of payload and create supply warehouses along the way for the return journey. On January 17, 1912, the Norwegians reach the South Pole and leave a Pulheim tent there with a message to the King of Norway about conquering the Pole and a request to Scott to deliver it to its destination: “The way home is very far, anything can happen, including something that will deprive us of the opportunity to personally report our journey." On the way back, Amundsen's sleigh became faster, and the team reached the base in 43 days.
Roald Amundsen's team at the South Pole. Photo by the Norwegian National Library
A month later, Amundsen's pulheim at the pole is found by the British, who have traveled 1,500 kilometers in 79 days. “Terrible disappointment! I feel pain for my faithful comrades. The end of all our dreams. It will be a sad return,” Scott wrote in his diary. Disappointed, hungry and sick, they wander back to the coast for another 71 days. Scott and his last two surviving companions die in a tent from exhaustion, 40 kilometers short of reaching the next warehouse.
Defeat
In the autumn of the same 1912, a tent with the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers was found by their comrades from the Terra Nova expedition. The last letters and notes lie on the captain’s body, and Amundsen’s letter to the Norwegian king is kept in his boot. After the publication of Scott's diaries, an anti-Norwegian campaign unfolded in his homeland, and only imperial pride prevented the British from directly calling Amundsen a murderer.
However, Scott’s literary talent turned defeat into victory, and placed the painful death of his companions above the perfectly planned breakthrough of the Norwegians. “How can you equate Amundsen’s business operation with Scott’s first-class tragedy?” - contemporaries wrote. The primacy of the “stupid Norwegian sailor” was explained by his unexpected appearance in Antarctica, which disrupted the preparation plans of the British expedition, and the ignoble use of dogs. The death of the gentlemen from Scott's team, who by default were stronger in body and spirit, was explained by an unfortunate coincidence of circumstances.
It was only in the second half of the 20th century that the tactics of both expeditions were subjected to critical analysis, and in 2006 their equipment and rations were tested in the most realistic BBC experiment in Greenland. The British polar explorers were not successful this time either - their physical condition became so dangerous that doctors insisted on evacuation.
Last photo of Scott's team
bird.depositphotos.com
What has Robert Scott been doing all these years? Like many of Her Majesty's naval officers, he pursues an ordinary naval career.
Scott was promoted to lieutenant in 1889; two years later he enters the mine and torpedo school. Having graduated from it in 1893, he served for some time in the Mediterranean Sea, and then, due to family circumstances, returned to his native shores.
By that time, Scott knew not only navigation, pilotage and minecraft. He also mastered surveying instruments, learned location survey
, well versed in the basics of electricity and magnetism. In 1896, he was appointed as an officer to a squadron located in the English Channel. It was at this time that Scott’s second meeting took place with K. Markham, who, having already become president of the Royal Geographical Society
, persistently urged the government to send an expedition to Antarctica. During conversations with Markham, the officer gradually becomes captivated by this idea... so as not to part with it ever again. However, about three more years passed before Scott made his fateful decision. With the support of Markham, he submits a report on his desire to lead an expedition to the extreme south of the Earth. After months of overcoming various kinds
So, by an amazing coincidence, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the two main participants in the future grandiose competition were almost simultaneously ready for their first independent polar expeditions.
But if Amundsen was going to go to the North, then Scott intended to conquer the extreme South. And while Amundsen in 1901 took a test voyage on his ship in North Atlantic, Scott is already heading to Antarctica.
Scott's expedition on the Discovery ship arrived on the shores ice continent at the beginning of 1902. For the winter the ship was placed in the Ross Sea (southern part Pacific Ocean).
It passed safely, and in the Antarctic spring, in November 1902, Scott set off for the first time on a trip to the south with two companions - the naval sailor Ernst Shackleton and the naturalist scientist Edward Wilson, secretly hoping to reach the South Pole.
True, it seems somewhat strange that, planning to do this with the help of dogs, they did not consider it necessary to acquire the necessary experience in handling dog sleds in advance. The reason for this was the British idea (which later turned out to be fatal) about dogs as not a very important means of transport in Antarctica.
This is evidenced, in particular, by the following fact. For some time ahead of Scott's main group, an auxiliary party walked with an additional supply of food, personally dragging several sleighs with loads, and with a flag on which was a proud inscription: “We do not need the services of dogs.” Meanwhile, when Scott and his comrades set out on a hike on November 2, 1902, they were surprised by the speed with which the dogs pulled their loaded sleigh.
However, pretty soon the animals lost their initial agility. And it was not only unusual difficult road, numerous uneven surfaces covered with deep, loose snow. The main reason Poor-quality food caused the dogs to quickly lose strength.
With limited help from dogs, the expedition progressed slowly. In addition, snowstorms often raged, forcing travelers to stop and wait out the bad weather in a tent. In clear weather, the snow-white surface, which easily reflected the sun's rays, caused snow blindness in people.
But, despite all this, Scott's group was able to reach 82 degrees 17" south latitude, where no man had ever set foot before. Here, after weighing all the pros and cons, the pioneers decided to turn back. This turned out to be timely , because soon the dogs, one after another, began to die of exhaustion.
The weakest animals were killed and fed to the rest. It ended with the people, again, harnessing themselves to the sleigh. Enormous physical exertion in extremely unfavorable natural conditions quickly depleted my strength.
Shackleton's symptoms of scurvy began to appear more and more clearly. He was coughing and spitting blood. Bleeding was less evident in Scott and Wilson, who began to pull the sled together. Shackleton, weakened by his illness, somehow trudged behind them. Finally, three months later, in early February 1903, all three returned to Discovery.
Amundsen-Scott Antarctic Station; in front of the flags a striped pole is visible, indicating earth's axis(January 2006)
The station was built in November 1956 for scientific purposes by order of the US government.
Chronology
Dome (1975-2003)
The aluminum unheated “tent” is a landmark of the pole. There were even Postal office, shop and pub.
Any building at the pole is quickly surrounded by snow, and the design of the dome was not the most successful. A huge amount of fuel was wasted to remove snow, and delivery of a liter of fuel costs $7.
The 1975 equipment is completely outdated.
New scientific complex (since 2003)
The unique design on stilts allows snow not to accumulate near the building, but to pass under it. The sloped shape of the bottom of the building allows the wind to be directed under the building, which helps blow snow away. But sooner or later the snow will cover the piles, and then it will be possible to jack up the station twice (this ensures the service life of the station from 30 to 45 years).
Construction materials were delivered by Hercules aircraft from McMurdo Station on the shore and only during daylight hours. More than 1000 flights were made.
The complex contains:
- 11-kilometer low-frequency antenna for observing and predicting celestial and cosmic storms,
- the tallest 10-meter telescope at the pole, rising 7 floors up and weighing 275 thousand kg
- drilling rig (depth - up to 2.5 km) for studying neutrinos.
On January 15, 2008, in the presence of the leadership of the US National Science Foundation and other organizations, the American flag was lowered from the dome station and raised in front of the new modern complex. The station can accommodate up to 150 people in summer and about 50 in winter.
Climate
| Climate "Amundsen-Scott" | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | Jan. | Feb. | March | Apr. | May | June | July | Aug. | Sep. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Year |
| Absolute maximum, °C | −14,4 | −20,6 | −26,7 | −27,8 | −25,1 | −28,8 | −33,9 | −32,8 | −29,3 | −25,1 | −18,9 | −12,3 | −12,3 |
| Average maximum, °C | −25,9 | −38,1 | −50,3 | −54,2 | −53,9 | −54,4 | −55,9 | −55,6 | −55,1 | −48,4 | −36,9 | −26,5 | −46,3 |
| Average temperature, °C | −28,4 | −40,9 | −53,7 | −57,8 | −58 | −58,9 | −59,8 | −59,7 | −59,1 | −51,6 | −38,2 | −28 | −49,5 |
| Average minimum, °C | −29,4 | −42,7 | −57 | −61,2 | −61,7 | −61,2 | −62,8 | −62,5 | −62,4 | −53,8 | −40,4 | −29,3 | −52 |
| Absolute minimum, °C | −41,1 | −58,9 | −71,1 | −75 | −78,3 | −82,8 | −80,6 | −79,3 | −79,4 | −72 | −55 | −41,1 | −82,8 |
| Source: Weather and Climate | |||||||||||||
Minimum temperature in the south geographic pole Earth was −82.8 °C, 6.8 °C higher than the absolute temperature minimum on the planet and at the Vostok station (there it was −89.6 °C), 0.8 °C lower than unofficially minimum recorded in 1916 in Oymyakon - the coldest winter city in Russia and Northern Hemisphere and was celebrated on June 23, 1982, one day after the date of the summer solstice. IN this century most severe frost at Amundsen-Scott was observed on August 1, 2005, -79.3 °C.
Activity
In summer, the station's population is usually more than 200 people. Most staff leave by mid-February, leaving only a few dozen people (43 in 2009) wintering, mostly support staff plus several scientists who maintain the station during the several months of Antarctic night. Winterers are isolated from the rest of the world from mid-February to the end of October, during which time they face many dangers and stress. The station is completely self-sufficient in winter period, is supplied with power from three generators running on JP-8 aviation fuel.
Research at the station includes sciences such as glaciology, geophysics, meteorology, upper atmospheric physics, astronomy, astrophysics and biomedical research. Most scientists work in low-frequency astronomy; low temperature and the low humidity of polar air, combined with altitudes of over 2,743 m (9,000 ft), provide much greater air clarity at some frequencies than is typical elsewhere on the planet, and months of darkness allow sensitive equipment to operate continuously.
Events
In January 2007, the station was visited by a group of Russian high officials, including FSB chiefs Nikolai Patrushev and Vladimir Pronichev. The expedition, led by polar explorer Artur Chilingarov, took off from Chile on two Mi-8 helicopters and landed at the South Pole.
TV show aired on September 6, 2007 Man Made National Geographic Channel with an episode about the construction of a new building here.
November 9, 2007 program Today NBC, with co-writer Ann Curry, reported via satellite phone, which was broadcast on live from the South Pole.
On Christmas Day 2007, two base employees got into a drunken fight and were evacuated.
In popular culture
Every year the station staff gathers to watch the films “The Thing” and “The Shining”
The station has featured prominently in a number of science fiction television series, including the film The X-Files: Fight for the Future.
Station at the South Pole called Snowcap Base was the site of the first Cybermen invasion of Earth in the 1966 series Doctor Who The Tenth Planet.
In film White mist(2009) takes place at Amundsen-Scott Station, although the buildings in the film are completely different from the real ones.
The Amundsen-Scott station appears in Evgeniy Golovin's song "Antarctica".
It is a Wonder of the World in the computer game Sid Meiers Civilization VI, namely in the Rise and Fall add-on.
Time zone
At the South Pole, sunset and sunrise are theoretically visible only once a year, at the autumn and spring equinoxes respectively, but due to atmospheric refraction the sun rises and sets over more than four days every time. There is no solar time here; there is no pronounced daily maximum or minimum height of the sun above the horizon. The station uses
Amundsen-Scott station: travel seasonality, life at the station, reviews of tours to the Amundsen-Scott station.
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“Place of residence - South Pole” - this is what the inhabitants of the American polar base “Amundsen-Scott” could rightfully write in their personal questionnaire. Founded in 1956 and continuously inhabited year-round ever since, Amundsen-Scott Station is an example of how humans can adapt to the most unfavorable living conditions. And not only adapt - build a comfortable home that can withstand the harsh climate of Antarctica for many years. In the era of commercial expeditions to the South Pole, the Amundsen-Scott became a host home for tourists who came to trample underfoot the extreme southern point Earth. Travelers spend only a few hours here, but during this time they manage to get acquainted with the amazing life of the station and even send a postcard home with the stamp “South Pole”.
A little history
Amundsen-Scott is the first Antarctic station in the interior of the continent. It was founded in 1956, 45 years after the conquest of the South Pole, and bears the name of the glorious pioneers of the icy continent - the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and the Englishman Robert Scott. At the time of its founding, the station was located exactly at 90° south latitude, but by now, due to the movement of ice, it has deviated slightly from the South Pole point, which is now located about 100 meters from the station.
The original station was built under the ice, and scientific activity was carried out there until 1975. Then a domed base was erected, which served as a home for polar explorers until 2003. And then it appeared here large-scale construction on jack piles, allowing the building to be raised as it becomes covered with snow. According to forecasts, it will last another 30-45 years.
The interiors here are no different from ordinary American “public places” - only massive doors that close like a safe indicate that this is happening in Antarctica.
Climate of the Amundsen-Scott station
The Amundsen-Scott station is located at an altitude of 2800 meters above sea level, which, taking into account the high rarity of the air in the South Pole region, turns into an actual 3500 meters, corresponding to the high mountain regions of the Earth.
The polar day lasts here from September 23 to March 21, and the peak of the “tourist season” occurs in December - January, when the temperature is most suitable for expeditions. At this time of year the thermometer does not show below -30 °C. Well, in winter there is about -60 °C and complete darkness, illuminated only by the northern lights.
Life at Amundsen-Scott Station
From 40 to 200 people permanently live on the Amundsen-Scott - scientists, researchers and professional polar explorers. In the summer, life here is in full swing - after all, outside the window it is a comfortable -22...-30 °C, and the sun shines around the clock. But for the winter, a little more than fifty people remain at the station to maintain its operation and continue scientific research. However, from mid-February to the end of October, access here from the outside world is closed.
The station is literally crammed with high-tech equipment: there is an 11-kilometer antenna for observing cosmic storms, a super-powerful telescope and a drilling rig embedded more than two kilometers into the ice, used for experiments on neutrino particles.
What to see
Tourists are allowed into the Amundsen-Scott station only for a few hours. The interiors are no different from ordinary American “public places” - only massive doors that close like a safe indicate that this is happening in Antarctica. Canteen, gym, hospital, music studio, a laundry and a store, a greenhouse and a post office - that’s all the simple life.
Station No. 3 Amundsen – Scott (Amundsen – Scott) USA 90 0 S. 0 0 east has been in operation since 1956. Located at an altitude of 2835 meters above sea level. The first station in the depths of Antarctica, and not on the coast of the mainland. The station got its name in honor of the discoverers of the South Pole - Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott, who reached their goal in 1911-1912.
On January 4, 1958, the Transatlantic Expedition of the British Commonwealth arrived at the station with the famous mountaineer Edmund Hillary. This was the first expedition to use road transport; it moved from New Zealand's Scott Bays station.
At the South Pole, sunset and sunrise are theoretically visible only once a year, at the autumn and spring equinoxes respectively, but due to atmospheric refraction, the Sun rises and sets over more than four days each time. There is no solar time, no pronounced daily maximum and minimum height of the Sun above the horizon.
At one o'clock in the afternoon there were several gentle knocks on Jones's room. Jones stood up, put on his robe, and walked to the door. Opening it, he saw young man, dressed in a corporation uniform without insignia.
Good afternoon. Sorry to bother you. I came on behalf of the head of the corporation. Arkhip the Great wants to meet you personally today at five o’clock at the Big Father House. We both understand that refusal is non-negotiable, so you must be there at five o'clock sharp. And yet, today the kitchen operates in a free mode, that is, you can eat at any time. All the best.
Okay, I get it,” Jones replied.
The man walked away down the corridor. Jones looked at the time, set the alarm for three in the afternoon and returned to Freya's warm bed.
He got up again when the alarm clock sounded, and Freya woke up right after him.
Is something going on? – she asked in a languid voice.
Arkhip is calling me,” he answered.
Don't know. It just calls and that's it. I have to be there by five o'clock. I want to eat. Will you come with me? Today the kitchen is open 24/7.
What are you doing?! Of course I'll go! Can you drink alcohol today? The head is a little cloudy and the champagne is very tasty.
Don't know. Well, I don’t think anything will happen from a glass. Throw everything on top with salad and fruit. And the flight to Vostok is not until tomorrow morning. So you still have plenty of time to clear your head.
OK, I’ll do that, but if anything happens, you’ll have to answer,” she said jokingly and cheerfully, “wait!” But it’s not possible with you?
Of course not.
Then ask Arkhip, can I look at his apartment?
Are you talking about Big Father House? Why did you like him so much?
Well, I just wanted to see, it’s interesting.
“Okay, I’ll ask, depending on the circumstances of the visit,” Jones replied, “and also, “would you like to take a ride together around these spaces?” There are very beautiful places and original training landscapes for racers. This is not to be missed!
Okay, come on!
Get ready, let's go have lunch! “For now, I’ll go and find the watch dispatcher, I’ll warn you in advance that we will be making a flight this evening,” Jones said, got dressed, and went out the door.
Having returned, they headed together to the cafeteria, after which they walked around the station together for some time until it was time for Jones to go to his appointment. They did not meet any of the participants in yesterday's celebration. Apparently everyone was still asleep, although the waiter in the dining room said that one of the racers was coming for lunch and coffee as scheduled, and, apparently, it was Hans.
“I won’t keep you for long,” Arkhip the Great began his remark, turning to Jones when he was already sitting at his table, “no doubt, you showed best result not only as a pilot, but also as a team member. I’m not going to get into your problems and relationship with the former captain Zordax, although if I were him I would shut up and sit quietly, without showing myself. And best of all, I would pick up my ambitions from testosterone toxicosis and go home, so that I don’t have to once again sort out another shit in front of our business partners! So, the next mission is planned in two months, that is, it will be in two months, and that’s for sure, and you will all participate in it!!! And Zordax will participate there too, unless he suddenly wants to refuse! And it would be easier and calmer for me to replace him with Miner or Köhler! Do you know why I can't do this?! Because the Germans do not agree to take part in joint missions as supporting pilots, and they do not want to command our pilots!!! And you probably thought that I was tormented by some kind of patriotic prejudices?.. In general, for the next mission, as well as for the entire program in general, a leader is needed. Captain, commander, senior pilot... call it what you want, in short, chief. The one who will be responsible for everything that happens in your team, and will be the link between the pilots and management. Accordingly, with your powers and, of course, additional remuneration. The reward, I’ll make a reservation right away so that everything is transparent and understandable, provided that there are no problems like last time, will be one and a half, and in the case successful implementation missions - two pilot rewards. Well, it’s clear that I offer this position to you! All justifications, both mine and yours, are clear and understandable. I have said my word, the matter is up to you. Will you think? Or is there nothing to think about?
I agree! – Jones answered firmly.
Well, that’s great! Just great! This is exactly the answer I expected from you! This means that all documents and orders will be prepared before your leave at Vostok. You sign them, take the instructions with you, receive the money, go on vacation, and upon return take up your position. You can please your friends, this information is not secret. If there are no questions, you are free!
There is one question!
My friend, the Space Shark dream pilot, the former captain of my group, Freya, really wants to look at your office, and asked me to ask your permission.
For God's sake, watch as much as you want! Ask the duty officer at the entrance to the sector, I will warn him, he will escort you and keep an eye on everything. I hope my presence is not required.
No no. Office only, thank you!
Jones returned dazed, happy and satisfied. He never would have thought that it could all turn out this way for him. He was not a timid person and, given his officer rank, he would never have allowed himself to become cowardly and take a step back, but today he was overcome by real anxiety and had to seriously fight with himself in order not to become cautious. The fact is that, despite the difficult trials during the mission, he achieved incredibly great results in a short time, having joined the program just a month ago. He defeated his opponent, found his love, became a hero among the other pilots, earned a lot of money, received a guaranteed opportunity to participate in the next mission, and even led the entire team. Here anyone would start watching their every step. Jones simply did not know what awaited him in the future for all these delights, and that Arkhip actually played a very complex, ambiguous game, never threw money away for no reason, and Jones will have to make sure of this this evening.
When, after the meeting, he told Fray about everything, it was already six o’clock in the evening. Freya was happy for him, but some internal obstacle still did not allow her to do this completely openly. In her own way, she envied him, since the irony affected her quite sharply, making Jones her captain, and not her captain Jones. In addition, now he was absolutely sufficient, independent, and therefore less controllable, which was a natural reason for the appearance of excessive jealousy.
Did you ask about me? – she began sadly.
Yes, he allowed it, just let’s do it after dinner, at eight o’clock, and now let’s go for a ride before it gets completely dark.
“Okay,” Freya replied.
They left the training ground towards the “training platforms”. This was the name given to areas with artificial and natural obstacles for training runs. Freya and Jones drove their cars calmly, not exceeding seventy knots, almost close to each other so that the outline of their faces could be seen through the cockpit glass. Every now and then they moved a short distance away, then came closer again and looked at each other. The landscape was peaceful, blue and burgundy due to the incomprehensible state of the Sun.
They were so focused on each other that they did not notice how the dot on the radar was quickly approaching them. Suddenly, a loud afterburner whistle was heard, and at a speed close to the maximum, they were sharply and quite characteristically cut off by a snow navigation device of an unknown model. Jones even swerved to the side in response.
What was it? - he said.
Don't know! – Freya answered.
Now I'll turn on the identifier.
He pressed several buttons on the navigation panel, the screen displayed a rotating 3D projection of the snow navigator, its description, model type SK-2H1 and the name “Arctic Fantom”. The Snowvigator had an impressive appearance and, apparently, serious driving parameters. He made a circle somewhere ahead and began to move towards the frontal attack.
Jones, what is he doing? – Freya became worried.
I don’t know, stay close, don’t slow down! - Jones commanded.
The Arctic Phantom was rushing straight at them at the same crazy speed. Suddenly an unfamiliar voice was heard on the air English language:
Greetings, Jones! My name is Steve Edison. I see you are having a romantic walk here. Don't relax, hero! It turns out that you are the best of all? Let me doubt it! I suggest you once again make sure of your leadership and take a ride with me right now to your Vostok station for a while!
At that moment, his snow navigator made a brutal frontal cut from the front at high speed and went back to perform a turn in the opposite direction.
END OF PART ONE.
SUMMARY OF THE SECOND PART.
The action begins with a dialogue between Freya and Jones, who are driving together in a new BMW crossover (for example, an X6) from France through Germany to the Crimea, to Axel and Catherine, to meet and spend the rest of their holiday, the four of them, in their house on the coast, after a long voyage around Europe . They discuss the unpleasant experience with the American racer at the end of the first mission.
Upon arrival, it turns out that everything on site is very azure, modern and cool. Vineyards, excavations of an ancient Greek city nearby, a two-story house with a swimming pool, all the coolest and best things you can think of, and the most important thing is that it’s all completely your own. Everyone is happy, young and beautiful, eating barbecue, drinking wine, making love in the pool and sunbathing on the terrace. The topic is about how military RUSSIAN Officers settled and enjoy themselves in Crimea! - Personally let Poroshenka read this part at night.
Suddenly there is an alarming call from the management of the Polar Navigation program and Lieutenant Colonel Sudareva, already well known to us, reports that everyone is very urgently assembled at the Vostok station in full force and preparation without discussion! A personal helicopter arrives for them and promptly delivers all four to their destination. When everyone gathers at Vostok, they are introduced to the Japanese pilot Katsuro Nayazuko, who urgently arrived from the Japanese station in his dream machine “Running Samurai”.
Sudareva briefs the team on what happened. It turns out that they were called to help their Japanese colleagues, and Nayazuko will be among them as something of an assistant-consultant. The fact is that recently from their Fuji Dome station one of Japanese pilots A snow navigator was stolen, and it is necessary to help catch it, because... this pilot is not entirely adequate and can cause irreparable damage to any other station or communication antenna structures by simply crashing into them. When our pilots begin to find out the details, it turns out that the whole problem is that this pilot is actually not entirely human, but one of the latest large-scale developments of Japanese cybernetic scientists and engineers - the android robot “Rei”. A humanoid machine with its own intelligence and a very, very complex control system. Something went wrong during the experiment. Perhaps it was even an enemy virus, but at one point the android rebelled and ran away, stealing the snow navigator, and now they not only risk losing a catastrophically expensive development along with a not quite cheap snow navigator into the bargain, but also suffer damage in the event of its possible collision with other stations , because the pilot tests that they conducted with it were not fully completed, and the dream-navigator does not contain the entire map of Antarctica, but only those routes along which they trained. Help from the armed forces is excluded, because the risk of damage to the robot during shelling is very high. It can only be captured in a certain way using special electromagnetic emitters that were developed by the Japanese for this case. To do this, you need to surround him from different sides and turn on the devices, then he will fall into a trap. Helicopters cannot fly so low and perform complex mutual maneuvers, so there is only one option left - install devices on snow navigation devices and start hunting for the android. It also turns out that this will not be easy, because he is trained to pilot at the highest level.
When asked why not wait until it's over inert gas in the snow-vigator, Nayazuko explained that the snow-vigator itself is made using the latest technologies for constant additional, autonomous charge accumulation from solar panels and the production of argon from the environment. Therefore, it will run out of fuel only in a week, or maybe two. The robot does not move constantly, but only starts moving when objects approach it closer than two miles. And when he starts to run away, he may mistakenly detailed maps crash into another station or into antenna communication systems, of which there are a lot in Antarctica. The pilots need to catch up with him at high speeds, surround him using tactical maneuvers, and turn on electromagnetic emitters around him on at least four sides, then he will not be able to escape, will be pinned down and will not stop functioning. At the end Nayazuko added that Chief Engineer at their station, the one who created this robot was so upset and depressed by the loss of many years of his work that he was going to make himself a hara-kiri if his brainchild could not be returned back. They barely managed to stop him during the first attempt, when everything happened, because... For everyone, this is a big failure in front of their superior, very strict bosses, and for them it is a matter of honor.
Then everyone starts catching the robot. All sorts of details are described, how they drive him around the Antarctic continent, etc. Along the way, they pass the just-begun global construction of Concordia II, which was discussed in the first part. The robot turned out to be unusually very agile and was constantly going somewhere, but in the end everything worked out and it really jammed when special electromagnetic emitters were turned on from all sides.
After the pilots again completed a difficult and responsible task, they were invited to the Amundsen-Scott station to look at the newly released development of the Polar Navigation program by the American side together with Russian scientists in the field defense industry. These are several types of experimental weapons based on the principle of energy pulse shock. The principle is very simple, based on the phenomenon of the formation of a circle in the air when clapping behind a supersonic fighter when it crosses the sound barrier.
The power supply is electric, so they will simply add new lightweight high-capacity nano batteries, and along with the latest Japanese systems charge accumulation and argon production, the technical characteristics will not change at all, only 150 kg of weight will be added, which is not significant.
The guns will be placed in the side rigging compartments, instead of tools, since the competition will now be held with constant escort from rescue services rapid response And own actions won't be needed. A new concept is also being introduced: “Snowvigator racing competitions” as a sport that is divided into several types: standard - long-distance sprint, obstacle race, and also the most interesting and killer the new kind called "Snow Battle", where racers use barrages of fire from their opponent's snow navigators to knock each other out of range.
Next, our pilots are offered to try out the new product on various American snow navigators, already equipped with such guns of several classes. These include two single high-range rapid-firing cannons, two double energy-pulse rapid-firing cannons with vertically mounted twin barrels, and a single six-barreled radial-axial rotating energy-pulse cannon. The Americans did not stop there and are carrying out further joint developments to create small missiles that can also shoot down targets with an energetic shock when they collide with the surface.
After several races, the pilots realized that this mode was much more interesting and exciting, and Halbox and Vender expressed a desire to quickly install such guns on their snow navigators, since they really wanted to race in this mode.
This ends the second part of the novel “Through Ice and Snow.”
SUMMARY OF PART THIRD.
The action begins at the Finnish Antarctic Polar Station Aboa. Finnish pilot Arvid Hulko is escorted to the international snowvigator racing championship. The Finns have their own snow navigation model - “Peloton”, which means “fearless” in Finnish. Arvid must proceed to the Amundsen-Scott station, where the championship will start.
Then the same thing happens at the Concordia station, only with the French pilot Jose Lesion and the French snow navigator “Supplanter” (from the French - “displace”), respectively, then the Germans, Japanese, Swedes, Chinese, British and several other participating countries are already on the snow navigators available models in Russia, the USA and the listed countries. The British are performing on the snow navigator “Mr.Bug”, the model of which they completely bought from Arkhip the Great and made their own complete restyling. Arkhip did not want to do this and decided to simply sell this model, which was not bad in principle, cheaply.
After everyone gathers at the championship, the races begin along different routes, detailed description design of the route infrastructure with all related components: beacons, semaphores, signs, spreadsheets, artificial springboards and shootouts from pulsed energy weapons. All this is filmed in real time by drones, quadcopters and broadcast around the world.
There is a fierce competition for places, the spectators and guests at the stations are rejoicing, who came to watch live the snow navigators and races in Antarctica, as well as to ride them themselves. As mentioned earlier, the main emphasis is on the plot of the “Snow Battle” competition, where, in addition to speed and various obstacles on the tracks (jumps, labyrinths), shooting from pulsed energy weapons using missiles of the same type is added, which do not injure the racers, but allow them to shoot down and slow down the movement of snow navigators during the race.
IN the end is coming The award for the top three winners, which included Russians, Americans and Germans, was narrowly missed by the Finn, but he will definitely make it next time.
Development of secondary stories and new supporting characters is also likely.
In general, this part is not built on some kind of original plot, but is focused on staged images of action - actions and other visualizations of the drive of firefights, descriptions of team tactics, passing obstacles in races, in short, solid fashion.