"Enclosing it was a milestone to beat all milestones," says Carlton Walker, facilities, engineering, maintenance, and construction manager at the South Pole Station. "To see that last panel fly up there and know the whole thing is enclosed and heated, that was huge."

It's been a long time coming. Research at the South Pole began in 1957, with scientists living on the ice in military tents and wooden structures. Since 1975, scientists have lived and worked in seven buildings huddled under a geodesic dome measuring 165 feet in diameter and 53 feet high.

The current South Pole Station Modernization Project began conceptually in 1994. Improvements to the infrastructure began in 1996 under a contract between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Antarctic Support Associates, a specially created division of EG&G. In 2000, when the first pieces of the elevated station began arriving at the Pole, the contract was handed over to Raytheon Polar Services Company, a division of Raytheon. The new station, the largest structure ever to be built on ice, is expected to last for 25 years.

The new facility was needed because scientists had outgrown the space under the dome, and the buildings there no longer met updated electrical or fire detection codes.

"The older facilities didn't have integrated fire suppression, and the air quality in the vehicle maintenance garage was not good," says B.K. Grant, area director of the station. "Primarily this project increases the safety of the personnel. It also is safer for the environment, because the fuel used to be stored in bladders with no secondary containment. We've fixed that."

The facility also adds amenities such as a larger food growth chamber and recreation area, and a more efficient kitchen.

Built for Utility, Not Beauty

Designed to fend off deadly cold and fierce winds, the South Pole Research Station is not a thing of beauty. Perhaps its most striking feature is that it is constructed 6 feet above the surface of the snow to delay the inevitable accumulation of drifts that are burying the current dome, and which will necessitate the raising of the new station by an additional 12 feet in 10 years.

"The thing that will kill a building is snow accumulation," says Walker. "The dome has 20 feet of snow against it now."

While this design extends the life of the station, it also eliminates the possibility of future expansion, which could be an issue in a building already lacking in storage space. The building is made up of eight two-story modules, four in a row forming the backbone of the station with four wings off of it. It is constructed to house 153 people in the summer and 50 in the winter, up from 28 under the old dome.

"The whole station is almost like a ship," explains Dan Mazzeo, facilities and engineering manager for the South Pole, McMurdo, and Palmer stations. "The areas are not particularly different except for the contents and the usage."

Four wings, or "pods," are currently occupied:

Pod A1 contains much of the year-round housing, which is best described as dorm-like. The sparse rooms are 8 by 10 feet, containing a raised bed with a dresser below it; one window that can't be opened, which is often covered with cardboard to keep out the summer's day-long sunlight; and a desk where occupants can write and use a laptop. Residents also have access to a computer lab.

Pod A2 is the dining area, containing a highly efficient kitchen and expanded dining area. The new dining room is much larger than the old space with seating for nearly 100, compared to barely 60 in the old galley under the dome.

The new kitchen is essentially the same size as the old one, but much better designed, with new equipment and an efficient work flow. The kitchen under the dome originally was built to feed no more than 50 people, explains Jon Emanuel, executive chef at the station.

"As the station grew, the building was added on to, and new prep space and equipment were thrown into whatever the new space could accommodate," he says. "This resulted in a fairly disorganized arrangement, which we used to the best of our ability to feed, eventually, upwards of 220 people four meals per day. There was a lot of bumping into fellow kitchen staff, as well as many calls of, 'Behind you!' and 'Hot!' and 'Ouch!'"

Emanuel and his crew are pleased to have a bit of counter space, a sink, and equipment that will hold water at a constant boil. They also have walk-in food storage inside the building; under the dome, they had to walk outside and down stairs to access storage.

"All these factors have made the life of a South Pole cook much easier, safer, and fulfilling," says Emanuel.

Pod A3 contains a food growth chamber, medical facility, and computer labs. The medical facility is equipped to handle minor illnesses and injuries such as broken bones. The facility is linked via video teleconference with consultant doctors at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Digital X-rays and ultrasound images can be transmitted to the doctors for help in diagnosis.

"Illness is an issue at the station," says Mazzeo. "Because everyone lives in such tight quarters in a sealed building, it's a major challenge when a virus hits the station."

One way to maintain the occupants' health, as well as their morale, is to provide fresh vegetables. The new food growth chamber was designed and built by the University of Arizona as a way to provide that amenity in a place where nothing grows naturally.

"You might as well be in a submarine," says Mazzeo.

Pod B1 is the emergency pod, separated from the rest of the building with a double fire wall.

"(B1) is the fall-back if anything goes wrong," explains Walker. "If anything goes bad here (on the South Pole), it can go bad big. Worst-case scenario is you lose your power."

The emergency pod contains its own power plant, water treatment facility, communications system, and a back-up kitchen and dining area.

"You can hunker down and survive in B1 until the sun comes up and the planes fly again," says Walker.

It can be a long wait. Most construction and all deliveries must take place during the austral summer from November 1 to February 15, when temperatures soar to a balmy -20°F. In the winter, it can get as cold as -110°F, too cold for planes to fly in and deliver emergency supplies or transport anyone out.

Under normal circumstances, the emergency pod is used for limited housing, a TV lounge, and a kitchen for special gatherings.

Pod B2, which contains much of the scientific equipment, is expected to be occupied starting in November. It is intentionally under-designed so it can be personalized for the individual researchers, some of whom spend no more than a year at the station.

"It is well provided with IT access, but there's only one fume hood," explains Grant. "That's not really the kind of science we do here."

The lab also contains meteorology equipment, because that work is on-going.

Pod A4 will contain housing in smaller rooms for summer visitors.

Pod B3, which is scheduled to be occupied this year, will house communications and administration, including the station manager, the NSF manager, and the engineer.

Pod B4 will contain a full-service recreation facility, including a full-sized gym, weight room, and activity space.

"What we had was inadequate for the population," says Grant. "We had a very small gym with a wooden floor. It was too small to use a real volley ball; we used a cloth bag filled with rags."

It is necessary to construct and enclose the facility one pod at a time because of the extreme elements and the severe limitations of the power plant. But it also creates some challenges with the heating system.

"We're basically rebalancing the system every time we turn a new wing on or take an old building off line," says Walker. "There's a huge monitoring system that's part of the project, and we're constantly adding new monitoring points. It's like building a skyscraper and bringing the mechanical systems on line two floors at a time."

In addition, the newest building settles—very rapidly for the first year, then much more slowly—before the next one is completed. When a new building is added, the engineers must take into account the settling that has occurred and is likely to continue in the adjacent building, as well as the newest one.

"There are hard bolt connections between wings A3 and A4, for example, with no flex joint," explains Walker. "As we've added wings, we set the footings for A4 at the level that A3 has settled to. A4 goes past where A3 is, but A3 continues to settle. A4 will eventually, over a couple of years, level off. Everything else is catching up with A1 and A2. We monitor it very closely."

Work Yet to be Done

The station is expected to be conditionally accepted in January 2006, when it will receive a temporary certificate of occupancy, and an inspector will create a punch list of things that need to be completed. Final completion—including completion of the new station, cleanup of the outlying facilities, and demolition of the dome—is scheduled for February 2008.

"The key is to get the old buildings down as fast as possible to get them off the power and waste heat loop," says Walker. "All the buildings in the dome will be gone in one year. The dome itself will be gone in two."

While construction continues, the population there is expected to be as high as 250 in the summer, says Grant. In addition to construction of the elevated station, two major scientific studies are getting under way, necessitating their own construction and infrastructure support: A 10-meter telescope is being installed, with a ground shield as big as the current dome; and a long-term project called "IceCube" involves drilling down 1 km into the ice and dropping sensors in four corners of a 1-km square.

"We also still need to construct a logistics facility for warehousing," says Grant.

Despite what's ahead, the team is proud of what they have accomplished so far; this is particularly true for Walker, who has been with the project from the beginning.

"I remember when we were drawing this thing on the back of napkins, trying to think of what it would even look like 10 or 11 years ago," says Walker. "To see it come to fruition is a payoff."

By Lisa Wesel

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