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November 16, 2003Breathless 'Polie' arrives at frosty stationREAD MORE: SOUTH POLE INDEXEDITOR' NOTE: For the next year Troy Wiles will be at the bottom of the world — literally. Wiles, a 38-year-old physician’s assistant from Frankfort, will be part of a two-member medical team caring for about 600 researchers and support staff at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station during his tour. He is working for Raytheon Polar Services Company, which contracts with the National Science Foundation to support scientists whose research includes seismology, astronomy, climatology and biology. The father of two stays in touch with his daughters, Brooke and Jenna, and his wife, Kim, via satellite phone and e-mail. “We look at it as a positive experience,” Kim said before her husband departed for the South Pole a few weeks ago. “Thirteen months is a long time and you could get sad about it if you let yourself, but we just don’t let ourselves go there. I think we can pull it off.” During his stay way down under, Troy will write a journal for the Record-Eagle, describing life dozens of degrees below zero — often in around-the-clock darkness. By TREY WILES Local Columnist Hello from the sunny South Pole, where the temp is a balmy -27F. After twenty-six hours of air travel, three days in Christchurch, New Zealand, and three days at the U.S. Antarctic Program's McMurdo Station, Antarctica, I stepped out of the 109th Air National Guard's LC-130 cargo aircraft and onto the bottom of the Earth. The welcoming temperature on this bright, sunny Oct. 25, 2003 (Oct. 24 in Traverse City) was a nose-freezing minus 52 degrees Fahrenheit.
As I approached my home for the next 13 months, I thought it was the awe of the moment that was causing me to gasp with each excited step. It was then that I recalled that the South Pole is at 9,300 feet elevation on top of more than 5,000 feet of ice. Physiologically, however, the Pole is at approximately 10,600 feet above sea level due to the Earth's rotation, making the atmosphere thinner at the poles and thicker at the equator. The physiological elevation varies with atmospheric pressure. A primary concern with new arrivals is high altitude sickness, which can be debilitating and life threatening. Getting accustomed to the cold and the thin air was only the beginning. Here at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, as well as all U.S. stations and field camps in Antarctica, trash is sorted and organized. This takes place at the individual level. The trash can in your room is just a temporary collection zone for debris you generate daily, most of which is tissue from blowing your nose. Everything has its place. There are trash cans for burnable items like tissues and paper towels, cardboard, construction debris, mixed paper, white paper, aluminum and plastic.
I am in charge of the Trauma Team. If something goes bad in the winter at -85F and they can't get aircraft in for 3-4 weeks, we might be burning what we have to stay warm or whatever may be the case. We take things very seriously when it comes to safety, for we can't just go somewhere else. It is truly a remote place. Everything has been flown in on LC-130s (a c-130 Hercules with skis). To get certain living supplies here can take a 1˝ years. Supplies for science projects and equipment can take several years. Delivering things by air is the limiting factor. And if the weather is bad, nothing gets in or out - milk, bulldozer, or dying person. Until next time, remember: nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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