Thread: Coldest, darkest place on Earth

I've been to Svalbard at 78 N. It's a Norwegian archipelago a thousand miles or so North of Northern Norway. That was in the summer and the temperature was in the 30s-50s F range. They have a city up there called Longyearbyen with around 1000 inhabitants. Recently I discovered that there is a corresponding city (really an American station) at the same Southern latitude in Antarctica called Mc Murdo. I found a website for an Antarctic newspaper :

http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/

They also have a smaller station at the actual South Pole, which is far colder, ranging from about -110 F to close to 0 F. Or -80 to -20 C. Throughout the year that is.

At the South Pole, the sun rises and sets twice a year, making for a 6 month night with several months of perpetual pitch dark. The few people who have to winter there to keep the station going are in for a real ordeal, with temperatures down to -100 F and strong winds outside, perpetual dark and being utterly confined within the large building and having to be totally self sufficient for months with no supplies or help arriving.

The conditions themselves have a particular effect on the human psyche, as depicted in this comic strip from the Antarctic Sun, which relates someone coming back to the South Pole station after having spent some time in the sunny, warm North :



There are photos elsewhere from the station during the winter months and some of those guys do look exactly like that. I'm not kidding. I think they have to be very tough to endure that.

One would have to be singularly focused ...not a job I would apply for.
Wonder if there have been any amazing revelations from these?

78 North or South isn't extremely different to living at 70 N which my family did for four years during my childhood. A bit colder, darker for a bit longer. But one can go outside for most of the time as long as it is -40F or warmer and not too windy. Wintering at the South Pole with -100F outside sounds awful. I guess some people do get by and some people are just crazy.

I don't think I would care to live in ANY place that has 24 hour night for months on end. I don't even like Winter....much less perpetual night.

Arctic night as opposed to arctic twilight is defined as when the sun is always below 6 degrees below the horizon, which starts at 72 N. But that would be for a very short while, maybe one or two days. On Svalbard there is such a thing but only for several weeks. On the South Pole it lasts for many months. As I remember it, the sun disc was away for a month or two during winter at 70 N but our days ranged from ordinary twilight to dark twilight around Christmas but never pitch dark throughout the day.

Originally Posted by Colonel

Arctic night as opposed to arctic twilight is defined as when the sun is always below 6 degrees below the horizon, which starts at 72 N. But that would be for a very short while, maybe one or two days. On Svalbard there is such a thing but only for several weeks. On the South Pole it lasts for many months. As I remember it, the sun disc was away for a month or two during winter at 70 N but our days ranged from ordinary twilight to dark twilight around Christmas but never pitch dark throughout the day.

Let me edit my response, "I don't think I would care to live in ANY place that has 24 hour twilight for months on end. I don't even like Winter....much less perpetual twilight."

better?

I don't think I'll move to north of the arctic circle again. Even with easy access to cheap flights to the south. Even at 60 N here in Oslo I feel a need for going on vacation to the Southern Mediterranean during december to get some sun and some warmth. Which really isn't any more expensive than going coast-to-coast in the US. Probably less expensive.