The Arrival of Prince Albert II of Monaco and Company to the South Pole by Ella Derbyshire

Nikon D80's

Here are His Serene Highness Albert II of Monaco and his fellow travelers arriving at the South Pole. They appeared out of a rather foggy landscape, and crossed onto our skiway near the Amundsen Scott Research Station on the morning of January 14, South Pole time. This was a fairly large group, and in additional to the folks near the skiway crossing to the dark sector and the telescopes, you can see more members of the expedition in the middle of the panorama, still making their way across the main skiway.

You will notice that there are two people in red coats who are not wearing skis. They are Dave Scheuerman, the station manager and Vladimir Papitashvli who is the National Science Foundation science representative at the South Pole.

After the greetings on the skiway crossing are complete, the new arrivals will be escorted to the NGA camp where they will have some time to settled in and greet their fellow travelers. Prince Albert and the other members of the expedition will spend the day at the Amundsen Scott Research Station. They will have lunch with the station crew and observe some of our scientific research projects.

Prince Albert has a particular interest in global warming, and he has made it a priority to investigate changes in the Earth's climate. He has now visited both the Arctic and the Antarctic regions, and under his reign, Monaco has become the 47th state signatory of the Antarctica Treaty.

Welcome to the South Pole!

This 20 image panorama was photographed from the 2nd floor observation at Destination Alpha. It was stitched with Autopano Pro.