The South Pole is by definition the southernmost point on the Earth, lyingantipodally to theNorth Pole. It defines geodeticlatitude 90° South, as well as the direction oftrue south. At the South Pole all directions point North; all lines oflongitude converge there, so its longitude can be defined as any degree value. No time zone has been assigned to the South Pole, so any time can be used as the local time. Along tight latitude circles, clockwise is east and counterclockwise is west. The South Pole is at the center of the Southern Hemisphere. Situated on the continent ofAntarctica, it is the site of theUnited StatesAmundsen–Scott South Pole Station, which was established in 1956 and has been permanently staffed since that year.
Because the south pole is covered by a deep (about 2 miles/3.2 km) ice sheet that is slowly moving, the geographic marker must be moved several meters each year. Also, buildings slowly become buried in snow because it does not melt. There is a marker at the geographic south pole placed each year, and also ceremonial south pole with various flags and special post.
For most purposes, the Geographic South Pole is defined as the southern point of the two points where Earth'saxis of rotation intersects its surface (the other being theGeographic North Pole). However, Earth's axis of rotation is actually subject to very small "wobbles" (polar motion), so this definition is not adequate for very precise work.
Thegeographic coordinates of the South Pole are usually given simply as 90°S, since its longitude is geometrically undefined and irrelevant. When a longitude is desired, it may be given as0°. At the South Pole, all directions face north. For this reason, directions at the Pole are given relative to "grid north", which points northward along theprime meridian.[1] Along tight latitude circles, clockwise is east, and counterclockwise is west, opposite to theNorth Pole.
The Ceremonial South Pole in 1998.The Ceremonial South Pole as of February 2008.
The Geographic South Pole is presently located on the continent ofAntarctica, although this has not been the case for all ofEarth's history because ofcontinental drift. It sits atop a featureless, barren, windswept and icy plateau at an altitude of 2,835 m (9,301 ft) above sea level, and is located about 1,300 km (810 mi) from the nearest open sea at theBay of Whales. The ice is estimated to be about 2,700 m (8,900 ft) thick at the Pole, so the land surface under theice sheet is actually near sea level.[2]
The polar ice sheet is moving at a rate of roughly 10 m (33 ft) per year in a direction between 37° and 40° west of grid north,[3] down towards theWeddell Sea. Therefore, the position of the station and other artificial features relative to the geographic pole gradually shift over time.
The Geographic South Pole is marked by a stake in the ice alongside a small sign; these are repositioned each year in a ceremony onNew Year's Day to compensate for the movement of the ice.[4] The sign records the respective dates thatRoald Amundsen andRobert F. Scott reached the Pole, followed by a short quotation from each man, and gives the elevation as "9,301FT.".[5][6] A new marker stake is designed and fabricated each year by staff at the site.[4]
The Ceremonial South Pole is an area set aside for photo opportunities at theSouth Pole Station. It is located some meters from the Geographic South Pole, and consists of a metallic sphere on a short barber pole, surrounded by the flags of the originalAntarctic Treaty signatorystates.[7]
The tent was erected by the Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen on its arrival on 14 December 1911. It is currently buried beneath the snow and ice in the vicinity of the Pole. It has been designated aHistoric Site or Monument (HSM 80), following a proposal by Norway to theAntarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.[8] The precise location of the tent is unknown, but based on calculations of the rate of movement of the ice and the accumulation of snow, it is believed, as of 2010, to lie between 1.8 and 2.5 km (1.1 and 1.5 miles) from the Pole at a depth of 17 m (56 ft) below the present surface.[9]
In 1820, several expeditions claimed to have been the first to have sighted Antarctica, with the first[clarification needed] being the Russian expedition led byFabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen andMikhail Lazarev.[11] The first landing was probably just over a year later when English-born American captainJohn Davis, a sealer, set foot on the ice.[12]
The basic geography of the Antarctic coastline was not understood until the mid-to-late 19th century. American naval officerCharles Wilkes claimed (correctly) that Antarctica was a new continent, basing the claim on his exploration in 1839–40,[13] whileJames Clark Ross, in his expedition of 1839–1843, hoped that he might be able to sail all the way to the South Pole; He was unsuccessful.[14]
British explorerRobert Falcon Scott on theDiscovery Expedition of 1901–1904 was the first to attempt to find a route from the Antarctic coastline to the South Pole. Scott, accompanied byErnest Shackleton andEdward Wilson, set out with the aim of travelling as far south as possible, and on 31 December 1902, reached 82°16′ S.[15] Shackleton later returned to Antarctica as leader of the British Antarctic Expedition (Nimrod Expedition) in a bid to reach the Pole. On 9 January 1909, with three companions, he reached 88°23' S – 112 miles (180 km) from the Pole – before being forced to turn back.[16]
The first men to reach the Geographic South Pole were the NorwegianRoald Amundsen and his party on 14 December 1911. Amundsen named his campPolheim and the entire plateau surrounding the PoleKing Haakon VII Vidde in honour of KingHaakon VII of Norway. Robert Falcon Scott returned to Antarctica with his second expedition, theTerra Nova Expedition, initially unaware of Amundsen's secretive expedition. Scott and four other men reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, thirty-four days after Amundsen. On the return trip, Scott and his four companions all died of starvation and extreme cold.
In 1914 Ernest Shackleton'sImperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition set out with the goal of crossing Antarctica via the South Pole, but his ship, theEndurance, was frozen inpack ice and sank 11 months later. The overland journey was never made.
US AdmiralRichard Evelyn Byrd, with the assistance of his first pilotBernt Balchen, became the first person to fly over the South Pole on 29 November 1929.
A U.S. Navy R4D-5L was the first aircraft to land at the South Pole, 31 October 1956 forOperation Deep Freeze IIAmundsen–Scott South Pole Station. The ceremonial pole and flags can be seen in the background, slightly to the left of center, below the tracks behind the buildings. The actual geographic pole is a few more meters to the left. The buildings are raised on stilts to prevent snow build-up.
It was not until 31 October 1956 that humans once again set foot at the South Pole, when a party led by AdmiralGeorge J. Dufek of the US Navy landed there in an R4D-5L Skytrain (C-47 Skytrain) aircraft. The USAmundsen–Scott South Pole Station was established by air over 1956–1957 for theInternational Geophysical Year and has been continuously staffed since then by research and support personnel.[2]
After Amundsen and Scott, the next people to reach the South Poleoverland (albeit with some air support) wereEdmund Hillary (4 January 1958) andVivian Fuchs (19 January 1958) and their respective parties, during theCommonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. There have been many subsequent expeditions to arrive at the South Pole by surface transportation, including those by Havola,Crary, andFiennes. The first group of women to reach the pole were Pam Young, Jean Pearson,Lois Jones,Eileen McSaveney, Kay Lindsay, and Terry Tickhill in 1969.[17] In 1978–79, Michele Eileen Raney became the first woman to winter at the South Pole.[18]
Subsequent to the establishment, in 1987, of the logistic support base atPatriot Hills Base Camp, the South Pole became more accessible to non-government expeditions.
In the summer of 1988-1989, Chilean glaciologist Alejo Contreras Steading reached the South Pole on foot; before that, he had arrived in 1980 by other means.[19][20]
On 30 December 1989,Arved Fuchs andReinhold Messner were the first to traverse Antarctica via the South Pole without animal or motorized help, using only skis and the help of wind.[21][22] Two women,Victoria E. Murden and Shirley Metz, reached the pole by land on 17 January 1989.[23]
The fastest unsupported journey to the Geographic South Pole from the ocean is 24 days and one hour fromHercules Inlet and was set in 2011 by Norwegian adventurer Christian Eide,[24] who beat the previous solo record set in 2009 by AmericanTodd Carmichael of 39 days and seven hours, and the previous group record also set in 2009 of 33 days and 23 hours.[25]
The fastest solo, unsupported and unassisted trek to the south pole by a female was performed byHannah McKeand from the UK in 2006. She made the journey in 39 days 9 hours 33 minutes. She started on 19 November 2006 and finished on 28 December 2006.[26]
In the 2011–12 summer, separate expeditions by NorwegianAleksander Gamme and AustraliansJames Castrission and Justin Jones jointly claimed the first unsupported trek without dogs or kites from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole and back. The two expeditions started fromHercules Inlet a day apart, with Gamme starting first, but completing according to plan the last few kilometers together. As Gamme traveled alone he thus simultaneously became the first to complete the task solo.[27][28][29]
On 28 December 2018, CaptainLou Rudd became the first Briton to cross the Antarctic unassisted via the south pole, and the second person to make the journey in 56 days.[30] In January 2025, NorwegianKaren Kyllesø [no] became the youngest person to ski to the pole solo and unassisted.[31] The record had previously been held since 7 January 2024 by Frenchman Pierre Hedan, aged 26,[31] and earlier byMollie Hughes who was 29 when, on 10 January 2020, she became the youngest person to ski to the pole.[32]
South Pole telescope during polar night. The green light is the southern lights
During winter (May through August), the South Pole receives no sunlight at all, and is completely dark apart from moonlight. In summer (October through February), the sun is continuously above the horizon and appears to move in a counter-clockwise circle. However, it is always relatively low in the sky, reaching a maximum of approximately 23.5° around the December solstice because of the approximately 23.5° tilt of the earth's axis. Much of the sunlight that does reach the surface is reflected by the white snow. This lack of warmth from the sun, combined with the high altitude (about 2,800 metres (9,200 ft)), means that the South Pole has one of the coldest climates on Earth (though it is not quite the coldest; that record goes to the region in the vicinity of theVostok Station, also in Antarctica, which lies at a higher elevation).[33]
The South Pole is at an altitude of 9,200 feet (2,800 m) but feels like 11,000 feet (3,400 m).[34] Centripetal force from the spin of the planet throws the atmosphere toward the equator. The South Pole is colder than theNorth Pole primarily because of the elevation difference and for being in the middle of a continent.[35] The North Pole is a few feet from sea level in the middle of an ocean.
In midsummer, as the sun reaches its maximum elevation of about 23.5 degrees, high temperatures at the South Pole in January average at −25.9 °C (−15 °F). As the six-month "day" wears on and the sun gets lower, temperatures drop as well: they reach −55 °C (−67 °F) around sunset (late March) and sunrise (late September). In midwinter, the average temperature remains steady at around −60 °C (−76 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station was −12.3 °C (9.9 °F) on Christmas Day, 2011,[36] and the lowest was −82.8 °C (−117.0 °F) on 23 June 1982[37][38][39] (for comparison, the lowest temperature directly recorded anywhere on earth was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) atVostok Station on 21 July 1983, though −93.2 °C (−135.8 °F) was measured indirectly by satellite inEast Antarctica betweenDome A andDome F in August 2010[40]). Mean annual temperature at the South Pole is –49.5 °C (–57.1 °F).[41]
The South Pole has anice cap climate (Köppen climate classificationEF). It resembles a desert, receiving very little precipitation. Air humidity is near zero. However, high winds can cause the blowing of snowfall, and the accumulation of snow amounts to about 7 cm (2.8 in) per year.[41] The former dome seen in pictures of the Amundsen–Scott station is partially buried due to snow storms, and the entrance to the dome had to be regularly bulldozed to uncover it. More recent buildings are raised on stilts so that the snow does not build up against their sides.
In most places on Earth, local time is determined bylongitude, such that the time of day is more-or-less synchronised to the perceived position of the Sun in the sky (for example, at midday the Sun is roughly perceived to be at its highest). This line of reasoning fails at the South Pole, where the Sun is seen to rise and set only once per year with solar elevation varying only with day of the year, not time of day. There is noa priori reason for placing the South Pole in any particular time zone, but as a matter of practical convenience the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station keepsNew Zealand Time (UTC+12/UTC+13). This is because the US flies its resupply missions ("Operation Deep Freeze") out ofMcMurdo Station, which is supplied fromChristchurch, New Zealand.[45][46][47]
Due to its exceptionally harsh climate, there are no native resident plants or animals at the South Pole. Off-coursesouth polar skuas andsnow petrels are occasionally seen there.[48]
In 2000 it was reported thatmicrobes had been detected living in the South Pole ice.[49] Scientists published in the journalGondwana Research that evidence had been found ofdinosaurs with feathers to protect the animals from the extreme cold. Thefossils had been found over 100 years ago inKoonwarra, Australia, but insediment which had accumulated under a lake which had been near to the South Pole millions of years ago.[50]
