The science station called McMurdo has been operating on the southern tip of the continent since 1956. It’s an important research center, attracting geologists, physicists, engineers, hydrologists, pilots, and just plain adventure-seekers. McMurdo Station has grown so much, in fact, that it’s really a town unto itself. It’s got a harbor, three airfields, a heliport, over a hundred buildings, and a bowling alley. After all, if people are going to work in such a bleak outpost, they need some recreation!
About a thousand people work at McMurdo in the summer -- 200 in the dead of winter -- and the scientists depend on the non-scientists to keep the place humming.
SOUNDPRINT went to McMurdo as part of the International Polar Year Media Collaboration Pole to Pole to cover a scientific project. While we were there, we met the diverse and colorful group of people who constitute LIFE AT MCMURDO.
Program Credits
Life at McMurdo airs as part of Pole to Pole, an international media
celebration of the 2007-2009 International Polar Year, produced with
support from the National Science Foundation, the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Deutsche Welle Radio,
Radio New Zealand, and the SOUNDPRINT Media Center, INC.
Resources
Links: The Antarctic Sun Funded by the National Science Foundation, this online newspaper's contents is based on the Antarctic community, research updates and scientific findings.
McMurdo Webcam Want to see what the weather is like right now at the McMurdo station? The station has a webcam setup for everyone to see.
International Polar Year This site is dedicated to the use of cutting edge science to explore and interprete the wide range of the physical and biological issues of the Arctic and Antarctic.
Books: The Worst Journey in the World by: Apsley Cherry-Garrard 2006 Cherry-Garrard, part of the Robet Scott's doomed expedition team, recounts the horrible and unbearbale environment he faced in South Pole.
