James Roth, a senior electronic instrument technician at UD, completed his fourth season in Antarctica in January, working on UD’s IceTop project for the IceCube telescope. The world’s largest scientific instrument, the telescope is designed to detect elusive, super-charged particles called neutrinos that can travel millions of miles through space, passing right through planets.

Thomas Gaisser, Martin A. Pomerantz Chair of Physics and Astronomy, is leading the UD project, which involves scientists and technicians in the physics and astronomy department and its affiliated research center, the Bartol Research Institute.

In a January e-mail message from the South Pole, Roth provides fascinating insight into what it’s like to live and work in the harshest environment on Earth. Here are a few excerpts, with more available—in addition to more about IceTop and IceCube—at [www.udel.edu/research/polar].

“What’s it like living at the South Pole? I’ll try to sum it up. South Pole Station is located at the Geographical South Pole. It is on top of a two-mile-deep glacier. It is the coldest, highest and driest desert on Earth.

“The station and summer camp are just about bursting at the seams with the current population of 266 people. I think that is close to a record. All of these people have to fit their whole year’s worth of work into the three-month summer window. For that reason, people work very hard. Most people work nine to 12 hours a day, six days a week.

“After the last aircraft leaves in early February, the station is not accessible until the next November. Only the winter crew of about 60 people is left here to watch the one and only sunset a year.

“One of the best things about the Pole is the food. In fact, your day revolves around the galley schedule. In 24 hours of daylight, the only way to know it’s morning is because the galley is serving eggs. I’m told your body burns up to 40 percent more calories trying to keep warm while working outside at the Pole. They feed you very well here.

“The new station has all the comforts of home. It has the galley and kitchen, bathrooms and showers, a laundry room, TV lounges, a recreation room with a pool table and a pingpong table, a gym and a greenhouse. There are, of course, administrative offices and conference rooms, too. Generators supply power, heat and water to the station. They run on jet fuel brought in by the aircraft that supply the station. Power and water conservation is always in progress. We are only allowed two showers a week for two minutes.

“While the new station makes you feel at home, we are still on the harshest continent on Earth. The average summer temperature is 35 degrees Celsius below zero. The cold is easy to handle by dressing properly. There are other issues to deal with at the Pole that most people don’t think of. We are at a pressure altitude of 10,000 to 11,000 feet. Up here, the air is very thin. It takes days to weeks to get used to breathing such little oxygen. This year alone, six people had to be evacuated in 10 days for Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). Your body does finally adjust. The other issue here is humidity, or the lack thereof. It is for the most part zero percent humidity. It is very important to stay hydrated.

“The people make the South Pole worth coming to. Everybody is friendly and cooperative. You meet people from all over the world. You can be from different cultures, but here, you are all Polies!”