Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

[knocker]

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station sits at the Earth's axis, atop a constantly shifting continental ice sheet several miles thick. Perhaps the world's most remote research facility, the station lies at the heart of a continent cut off from the rest of the globe by a circulating Southern Ocean current. Antarctica is the coldest, highest, driest and windiest of the continents – and the least hospitable to human life. But paradoxically, those same conditions combine to make the South Pole a unique scientific laboratory for the study of questions as diverse as "What is the origin of the Universe and how did it develop?" or "What is the status of global climate change?"

There are also web cams and information about McMurdo and Palmer stations.

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/livingsouthpole/intro.jsp

Some more general information on Katabatic winds in the Antarctic. Not for nothing is it known as the windiest place on earth.

Polar winds are a driving force behind weather systems arising from three surface zones that converge at McMurdo Sound: the polar plateau and Transantarctic Mountains, the Ross Ice Shelf, and the Ross Sea. These surface zones create a range of dynamic weather systems. Cold, heavy air descending rapidly from the polar plateau at elevations of 10,000 feet (3,000 m) or more spawns fierce katabatic winds. These dry winds can reach hurricane force by the time they reach the Antarctic coast. Wind instruments recorded Antarctica’s highest wind velocity at the coastal station Dumont d'Urville in July 1972 at 199 mph (320 km/h) or 327 km/h (Australian Government Antarctica Division). (Wiki)

Edited November 29, 2010 by weather ship