South Pole Berms by Ella Derbyshire

Nikon D80's

Here we see one of the South Pole winter-over carpenters looking for lumber on the berms.

Storage at the Pole is a bit of the problem because we have no supply planes from mid-February until mid-October. The Hercules LC-130's bring everything that we think we may need to get through the year, but storing it, and then finding it when we need it, is an interesting task.

Today, two days after sunset, the sky is fairly bright and the search was successful. Next month, in the winter darkness, the process will be much more difficult.

The berms are raised pallets of snow that are sculpted by heavy equipment operators during the summer. Boxes, crates and pallets of supplies are placed on top, abot a foot above the snow. We expect some changes in the snow drifts over the winter, and next summer the burms will need extensive grooming.

It was a great day for a ride on the snow mobile. The temperature was -56 degrees Fahrenheit today, and there was hardly any wind. The temperature will also change as the darkness of an Antarctic night deepens. We are expecting to reach 100 below zero by August 1.

The 9 images of this panorama were photographed with a Nikon D80 and stitched with Autopano Pro.