50 Fun Facts About The South Pole

The Geographic South Pole lies at which degree of latitude?

Its longitude is undefined because every meridian meets there; it lies about 1,300 km from the nearest open sea at the Bay of Whales.

Who led the first party to reach the South Pole, on 14 December 1911?

He named his camp Polheim and the surrounding plateau King Haakon VII Vidde.

How many days after the Norwegians did Scott's party reach the Pole?

Scott's diary recorded: 'Great God! This is an awful place'; all five men died on the return.

At the South Pole, which compass direction do all directions point?

All lines of longitude converge there, so directions are given relative to 'grid north' along the prime meridian.

During which months does the South Pole receive no sunlight at all?

In the summer the sun stays continuously above the horizon but never climbs higher than about 23.5 degrees.

Roughly how thick is the ice sheet at the South Pole?

The land surface beneath is near sea level, though the ice puts the Pole 2,835 metres up.

Why must the marker at the Geographic South Pole be repositioned annually?

A new stake is designed each year and set in a ceremony on New Year's Day.

On what day is the South Pole marker moved to its new position?

The sign lists the dates Amundsen and Scott arrived, a quotation from each, and the elevation of 9,301 feet.

The Ceremonial South Pole, set aside for photographs, features a metallic sphere on a striped post surrounded by what?

It stands some metres from the true pole so the photo spot never has to move.

Amundsen's tent, left at the Pole in 1911, is believed to lie how far beneath the surface today?

Ice movement has carried it 1.8 to 2.5 km from the Pole; it is protected as Historic Site 80.

Which explorers' names does the US South Pole station, staffed since 1956, carry?

Navy Seabees built the original for the International Geophysical Year; the winter crew is typically around 50 people.

The South Pole station keeps which country's time zone, because its supply flights route through Christchurch?

No time zone is officially assigned to the Pole, so any time could be used.

The US resupply flights out of McMurdo, via Christchurch, are run under what code name?

Christchurch in New Zealand is the gateway, which is why the Pole runs on New Zealand time.

Who was the first person to fly over the South Pole, on 29 November 1929?

Norwegian Bernt Balchen was his primary pilot on the flight.

After Scott in 1912, when did humans next set foot at the South Pole?

Admiral George Dufek's party landed in a Skytrain aircraft on 31 October 1956, ahead of building the station.

Which Everest conqueror reached the South Pole overland on 4 January 1958 during the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition?

Fuchs's party arrived a fortnight later and went on to complete the first crossing of the continent.

Vivian Fuchs's crossing party travelled in six vehicles, three of which were what?

Two Weasel tractors and an adapted Muskeg tractor made up the rest; Hillary famously drove Ferguson farm tractors from the other side.

Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition turned back on 9 January 1909 at 88°23'S, roughly how far short of the Pole?

Its motor car had proved useless on the Barrier and the Manchurian ponies had died on the march.

Amundsen kept his Antarctic plans secret, telling his crew they were heading north. Where did he finally reveal the true destination?

From there he sent Scott a telegram saying simply that he was 'proceeding south'.

Scott learned he was in a race with Amundsen from a telegram waiting for him in which city?

It contained only the bare information that the Norwegian was 'proceeding south'.

What was the name of Amundsen's base camp in the Bay of Whales?

It meant 'Home of Fram', after Nansen's ship; Polheim was the name he gave his camp at the Pole itself.

Amundsen's party slaughtered dogs for food at the top of the Axel Heiberg Glacier at a spot they called what?

Of 52 dogs that started in October, 11 came back pulling two sledges.

Amundsen borrowed which famous polar ship, previously used by Fridtjof Nansen, for his South Pole expedition?

He had earlier taken the tiny Gjøa through the Northwest Passage; Fram had been built to drift frozen in Arctic ice.

Scott, Wilson and Bowers died in their tent how far short of the supply depot that might have saved them?

One Ton Depot had itself been laid more than 30 miles short of its intended position the previous year.

Which member of Scott's polar party walked out into a blizzard saying 'I am just going outside and may be some time'?

'Titus' Oates was an army captain from the Inniskilling Dragoons who had fought in the Boer War.

Scott's transport plan for the Terra Nova Expedition combined dogs, ponies and what novel technology?

The motors broke down early and the ponies were shot on the Barrier, leaving men to haul the sledges.

The first man to the Pole disappeared in June 1928 while doing what?

His plane vanished over the Barents Sea; Umberto Nobile, the man he was trying to save, survived.

The Antarctic Treaty, which reserves the continent for peaceful scientific use, was signed in 1959 by how many nations?

It came into force on 23 June 1961; the flags of those original signatories ring the Ceremonial Pole.

What was the lowest temperature ever recorded at the South Pole station, on 23 June 1982?

Vostok Station holds the planet's record at −89.2 °C; the Pole's mean annual temperature is −49.5 °C.

The warmest temperature ever recorded at the South Pole, −12.3 °C, fell on which day in 2011?

Even in high summer the January average high is only about −26 °C.

Why is the South Pole colder than the North Pole?

The Pole sits at 2,800 metres, with a pressure altitude of about 3,400 metres because cold air is denser.

The South Pole's climate is classified as an ice cap climate and resembles what?

Humidity is near zero and only about 7 cm of snow accumulates a year, though wind piles it against buildings.

Which two birds are occasionally seen off course at the South Pole, where nothing lives natively?

Microbes were found living in the ice in 2000, but there are no resident plants or animals.

In 1999 the station's winter-over physician, Jerri Nielsen, discovered she had what, and had to treat herself until a rescue flight?

She biopsied the lump herself with help from colleagues and started chemotherapy from an airdrop.

Astrophysicist Rodney Marks died at the station in May 2000 of what was later found to be methanol poisoning. How did the NSF initially describe it?

He fell ill walking between the observatory and the base and died within 36 hours, undiagnosed.

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory near the Pole has thousands of sensors buried in ice over what volume?

Strings of 60 modules hang at depths of 1,450 to 2,450 metres in holes melted with hot water.

The South Pole Telescope, a 10-metre dish at the station, primarily studies what?

The dry, stable, dark polar atmosphere is ideal for millimetre-wave astronomy.

An abandoned Soviet station at the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility is still marked by a bust of whom, facing Moscow?

A British team rediscovered it in January 2007 on the first expedition there without mechanical help.

Who made the first solo, unsupported expedition to the South Pole in 1992–93, covering 1,310 km in 50 days?

Fiennes and Mike Stroud made the first unsupported crossing of the whole continent the same season, in 93 days.

Ann Bancroft led the first all-female expedition to ski to the South Pole in which season?

The first women ever at the Pole were six scientists flown in in 1969.

Arved Fuchs and Reinhold Messner became the first to traverse the continent via the Pole without animals or motors in 1989, using skis and what?

Kites and sails have since become standard on long polar hauls.

The 1820 expedition credited with first sighting the southern continent was led by Bellingshausen and Lazarev under which flag?

An American sealer, John Davis, probably made the first landing a year later.

Amundsen named the plateau around the Pole in honour of which monarch?

Norway had only become fully independent in 1905, and the new king's name went on the map.

Roughly how many people staff the South Pole station in summer?

The winter crew, isolated from February to October, is around 50.

At what altitude above sea level does the South Pole sit?

Thin cold air gives it a pressure altitude closer to 3,400 m, and it lies 1,300 km from the nearest open sea.

Which US Navy admiral led the party that landed an aircraft at the South Pole on 31 October 1956?

They arrived in an R4D-5L Skytrain, and the Amundsen-Scott station was built by air over 1956-57 for the International Geophysical Year.

In which year did the first group of women, including Pam Young and Lois Jones, reach the South Pole?

Michele Eileen Raney became the first woman to winter there in 1978-79.

What is the mean annual temperature at the South Pole?

Even in midsummer January the average high is only −25.9 °C.

Snow accumulates at the South Pole at roughly what rate each year?

The old station dome was partially buried anyway, so newer buildings stand on stilts.

Who was the first Briton to cross Antarctica unassisted via the South Pole, finishing in December 2018?

The army captain completed the journey in 56 days.