South Pole Updates

Originally published 31 May 2023 during my time as Winter Site Manager at the South Pole Station.

The middle of 2023 is nearly upon us. Wow – we are already halfway through 2023.. can you believe it? June is almost here and that means that our winter is going to be half over soon (15 February – 15 October). While it may be hot and warm with summertime vibes for many of you, it’s cold and dark down here at the South Pole, Antarctica. Why is winter a big deal?? Well, we can’t leave for nearly nine months! No flights! The midwinter mark at the South Pole falls on 21 June, the exact middle point from when the Station closed on 15 February to when the first planes come in again starting 15 October. The austral winter is in full swing currently, and we won’t see an ounce of sunlight again until the beginning of August. Our happy lights are on every morning and we are diligent with our vitamins, chief among them D3.

But as we get further and further into the year, we wanted to start regularly updating you as to what’s going on at the South Pole during the 2023 austral winter. We’ll provide regular updates on what’s going on, the weather, special events, photos, aurorae sightings, interesting facts, and anything else going on down here. As we start this blog, we aim to fill it with five months of content from the beginning of June to roughly the end of October 2023. We’d like to hear from you as well. What do you want to know about the South Pole and the goings on around here? What questions do you have? Help us deliver more tailored content by reaching out to us in the comments section of our posts or by emailing us from our contact page. This should be a fun adventure! Talk to you soon from the bottom of the world!