Water is supplied to the station by melting ice in various wells near the station. Apparently one of the pumps got stuck a while ago and so the drill crew is using the snow melter and boiler to supply hot water to try to free the pump. The drillers joke that once again it's a fine example of science supporting logistics. That whole operation started yesterday and at noon it was announced that we could no longer take showers or do laundry as a result of the work being done. I have hard time figuring out how the situation could have been made any worse by trying to free the pump with hot water, but I guess maybe it has.
Each year the winter-overs or "night crew", the 50 or so people who keep the station going from February to October, are tasked with designing and making a new South Pole marker. The 2 miles of ice that we are on moves about 33 feet a year (which works out to about an inch a day) and on January 1st they have a ceremony unveiling the new marker and marking the new Geographic South Pole.
I couldn't quite get the shot, but in this photo you can see the label for the new marker and you can see the pole of the old marker in the background to the right of the legs of the lady in the green jacket.
The marker this year was designed commemorate the 100th anniversary of the year the Amundsen made it to the South Pole
It's a depiction of a sextant which was used to measure the angle of the sun to determine the latitude. I believe Amundsen and his crew spent 4 days measuring the angle of the sun to determine if in fact they were at the South Pole. There are 47 degree marks on the sextant representing the 47 people who winter-overed.
These aren't the greatest photos of it, but there was a pretty good crowd out there for the ceremony.
The marker is moving further away from the station and further from the ceremonial South Pole.
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