Hovey is the only engineer on Raytheon Polar Services' Facilities Engineering Maintenance and Construction (FEMC) winter crew of 28 at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. In addition to supporting the scientists spending the winter at the station, the FEMC crew is also advancing the ongoing work of the South Pole Station Modernization (SPSM) project, a $153-million upgrade to Amundsen-Scott's facilities and communication infrastructure.

Set for completion in 2007, a new elevated science station is being constructed which will replace "The Dome," a geodesic structure built in the 1970s to cover a small group of buildings. The new 65,000-sf station, which sits on columns 10 feet above the ice to alleviate the effects of drifting snow, will provide space for the station's living quarters, dining facilities, and offices for science, communications, and administration personnel. Raytheon Polar Services Company (RPSC) manages the SPSM project for the National Science Foundation, which administers the Amundsen-Scott station. For more information on the project, see the upcoming report South Pole Station Modernization Project.

Since late February the station has been closed, with no flights in or out. When the sun rises again around September 23, it will bring to an end the austral or southern winter. But as the season winds down, the pace of work picks up, as Hovey and the "winter-over" crew lay the groundwork for the more than 200 workers who will arrive in October to begin the summer construction season. (The end of this winter season has been marked by the added drama of an emergency medical evacuation ("medi-evac") of an RPSC employee.)

"The work has been interesting and time has flown by," says Hovey. "It's amazing to think I haven't seen the sun in almost six months. It seems like yesterday."

Hovey will remain in Antarctica until mid-November, when his current contract with RPSC ends. He's planning an around-the-world trip on his way back home to his native Nebraska.

"One of the stops will most certainly include a hot, sunny, white sand beach with coconut palms and loads of fresh fruit," he adds.

Working in a Winter Wonderland

Hovey arrived on January 6 of this year, as the austral summer season was starting to wind down. He moved into a jamesway, an insulated canvas tent with a furnace inside, in the station's "Summer Camp" on the polar ice sheet.

"They're actually pretty cozy," says Hovey of the green Korean War-era structures.

In past years, residents of Summer Camp left their jamesways in mid-February and moved into the shelter of the domed station. This year, however, Hovey and the majority of the winter population of 58 became the first people to occupy the A-wing of the new elevated station. (A few "winter-overs" decided to stay in the dome for what will likely be the last winter-over there. The dome will be dismantled once the new station is fully built out.)

As the only engineer at the station this winter, Hovey has been handling a wide variety of tasks, including a number of facilities related issues.

"I've spent a lot of time tweaking the DDC system that controls all of our HVAC," he says. "There haven't been any major issues, mostly occupant comfort and getting the boilers and the heating loop set to the optimum temperature so that we're conserving as much fuel as we can."

Hovey has also spent time fine tuning the new station's heating system, which captures waste heat from the generators and sends it around the station in a glycol loop. HVAC and exhaust hoods in the galley have also required adjustments.

"It's a number of small issues but they add up," he says.

While the crew performs work at various locations around the one-mile-square station, the main focus of their work this winter season is framing and fitting out module A3 of the elevated station, which will contain a new medical ward, a computer area, laundry facilities, a greenhouse, and a store.

Making the Team

Hovey says that the only remotely similar project he had worked on previously was oil and gas plants in Algeria.

"We were out in the middle of the Sahara Desert, which is in some respects the opposite of the South Pole and in some respects the same, since it's extremely dry in both places. In the Sahara, we had a nice leave schedule: four weeks off for every four weeks on. At the South Pole there is no leaving once the station closes for the winter."

Although his Algerian experience helped, Hovey, like every other winter-over at the Pole, went through an extensive amount of testing before he got the job: first a thorough physical examination, a dental examination, a written test with hundreds of questions, and finally an interview with a psychologist.

"They want people who are going to fit in with the group and not have clashes of personality, someone who'll be comfortable going through the four months of darkness," says Hovey. "They've seen people come and go through here and they have a feel for the kind of personality that isn't going to fit in well."

Isolation, a common stress factor in the past, has been lessened somewhat by advances in technology. Hovey notes that with 10 hours of Internet access a day, winter-overs are able to keep in fairly close contact with loved ones back home. There have been a few cases of winter-overs having family emergencies back in the U.S. made more difficult for them since they can't be there physically.

"With IP phones connected back to Denver, I can pick up the phone and call family or friends just as easily as making a long distance call in the states," says Hovey. "I can only imagine how different the winter-over experience would have been when ham radio was the only contact with the outside world."

Life in the Dark

According to Hovey, the main difference between the summer and winter season at the Pole is the pace, which changes considerably.

"There are a lot more people here in the summer and materials are the big thing," he says. "During the summer you have access to flights, so if you need something ASAP—plans, parts, supplies, whatever—you can get it. In the winter, you're locked in. If you don't have something, you make your list and wait for the next summer."

Hovey notes that dealing with the phenomenon of constant night has been relatively easy.

"It doesn't just all of a sudden get pitch black," says Hovey. "The sun circles the sky and slowly goes down."

All of the windows in the station have been closed to keep from interfering with experiments in the Dark Sector, an area a quarter mile from the South Pole station reserved for astrophysics and astronomy experiments. As a result, station residents don't actually "see" the dark all that much.

Apart from being a bit more tired in the morning and occasionally "dragging a little bit," Hovey says he hasn't noticed any major physiological changes. One respite from the station atmosphere is a small greenhouse in the dome used to provide the crew with salad every few weeks.

"It's small but you can go in there to get some full spectrum light, some humidity, and some heat. It's really a neat place to read a book or just hang out and enjoy the smell of greenery. One thing you notice down here is that it's devoid of smells. That's something I hadn't expected."

Station Life, Station Work

All members of the FEMC winter crew are on a nine-hour schedule, although Hovey adds that there's enough going on that he often works 12 to 15 hours a day.

"We start our day at 7:30 with a safety meeting and wrap up around 5:30 six days a week. Of course, a lot of the scientists here work nights and the IT and food service people have their own schedules."

Saturday is a half-day of work followed by what is called "house mouse," or cleaning the entire station.

"Around 2:00, you start cleaning your own area, then around 3:00 move to the common areas: galleys, toilets, etc."

Free Time, etc.

The first weekend of every month the FEMC crew gets Saturday and Sunday off. And just what do you do with a two-day weekend at the South Pole?

"I asked that question when I interviewed, thinking 'What can you do on a sheet of ice?' But there's a lot going on here."

The station has a weight room and a small gym. There are language classes, yoga classes, tai chi classes, dance classes, and scientists at the Pole frequently lecture about their research projects. The station also has a video store and a number of big screen televisions and projection screens. If none of this strikes your fancy, you can call up one of the other stations in Antarctica and play radio darts: You throw a dart and then radio the results to McMurdo Station on the Ross Sea or Palmer Station on Anvers Island. Then they throw a dart and radio the results back.

"There's almost too much to do, considering how much we work," says Hovey. "People have no problem filling up their weekends, that's for sure."

In addition to his regular duties, Hovey has put together several presentations about some of the scientific research being conducted at the South Pole. He then emails the presentations to the grade school he attended in his hometown of Bellevue, Neb., as well as a school in Walnut Creek, Calif.

"Hopefully the presentations spark the adventurous spirit in at least a few of the kids and inspires them to get out and see the world as they get a bit older," says Hovey. "Places like this teach you lessons you can't learn in school."

The Few, The Proud, and The Crazy

Having already entered both the select company of "Polies" (people who have been to the geographical South Pole) and winter-overs, Hovey's time in Antarctica has also afforded him the opportunity to join the even more elite few called The 300 Club.

"When the temperature hits -100°F, some of the crazier Polies fire up the sauna to over 200°F and then run out to the Pole in the nude, hence the name. We finally hit -101°F briefly at the end of [July] and I was just crazy enough to make the run."

Never let it be said that a career in facilities management won't offer a person exposure to stimulating experiences.

By Lee Ingalls

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