was bored out by a machine designed after those that are used for
mines. The machine fits exactly the size of the tunnel, and the snow
is piped out to surface from behind it. When they had to make
repairs, they cut into the snow beside it to make a little cave. The
pipes you see are for water and sewage. It is -55F in the tunnel
(near average of the summer and winter temperatures outside), so the
pipes are heated and wrapped with insulation. The tunnel currently
starts at about 15 ft below surface and is gently sloped down and ends
at 50 ft below. The South Pole Gravity Station is located off to the
side, at about 30 ft below surface.
The South Pole Station gets all its water from a well in the ice.
These wells are called "rodwell" http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/rodwell/rodwell.html
after Raul Rodriguez after an Army engineer who originally developed
the idea. You essentially melt a big cavity in the ice 200 m below
surface and pump the water out. When the well reaches 500 m deep, it
becomes very difficult to pump the water out, so we move onto the next
hole. The dry holes are used to store waste water. Currently the
station is using water from "rodwell-2", the second hole, and are
planning to move onto rodwell-3 soon. Each hole lasts about 7 - 10
years depending on how efficiently we use the water and how well the
melting goes. Bigger bulb the longer each well lasts.
To melt the water, excess heat from the power plant is used. The
station is all about energy efficiency. See the next blog for where
we get our energy.
Along the tunnel, there are several "shrines" set up by past winter-
overs. A pig's head donated by the Russian station (I think I heard
that right...), helmet signed by the miners who dug out the tunnel, a
mummified fish, and so on.
I will post more photos from the well at "more photos" http://picasaweb.google.com/RainSnow3Ice
.
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