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A South Pole Record

A South Pole Record

Features | People Profiles
Thursday October 11, 2018

The prospect of spending a winter at the desolate South Pole doesn't appeal to many. It's no small feat for the few dozen hearty souls each year who brave the constant below-freezing temperatures, half a year of darkness and lack of way to fly home for nearly nine months.


Charles Bentley 1929-2017

Charles Bentley 1929-2017

Features | People Profiles
Tuesday August 29, 2017

Charles Bentley, the pioneering glaciologist who was among the very first wave of scientists to travel to Antarctica, passed away on August 19 at his home in Oakland, Calif. at the age of 87. Over his distinguished career, he made numerous discoveries that fundamentally changed the scientific community's understanding of Antarctica.


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Jul
13
2017

James Stewart

Features | People Profiles

James "Jim" Stewart--the chief diving officer emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the so-called "father" of the U.S. Antarctic Program's diving program--died in Irvine, California on June 7 at the age of 89. Stewart adapted the scientific-diving best practices that he helped develop for the American Academy of Underwater Sciences to produce guidelines for the U.S. Arctic and Antarctic programs, procedures still used to this day.


Nov
25
2015

2,000 Dives Under the Antarctic Sea

Features | People Profiles

Party balloons greeted Rob Robbins as he climbed out of the icy waters of McMurdo Sound on October 22. The colorful additions to the typically utilitarian furnishings of the small dive hut marked a major milestone in his career.


May
19
2015

Making a Difference

Features | People Profiles

Col. Denise M. Donnell has chased pirates in the South China Sea and flown all manner of aircraft, from the sub-hunting P-3 Orion to the massive, cargo-carrying C-5 Galaxy. But perhaps one of the best parts of her job brings her to Antarctica each austral summer.


Jan
02
2015

Crossing the Gender Gap

Features | People Profiles

Katy House thought she would live a fairly conventional life and be married with children at her age. Instead, at 27, she is the first woman in the world to travel on the thousand-mile-long South Pole operations Traverse, or SPoT, as a diesel mechanic.


Sep
20
2013

Going the Distance

Features | People Profiles

Dana Hrubes estimates he has walked more than 5,000 miles across Antarctica. He is not a polar explorer, though he has certainly had his share of adventures in the polar regions. Instead, Hrubes has literally walked the distance mile by mile, day after day, during seven winters at the South Pole.


Jul
12
2013

Launching New Careers

Features | People Profiles

Antarctica is a huge continent, but it's a small world when it comes to those who have lived and worked there. Yet Christina Hammock and Jessica Meir never met while working at different stations. Now they'll get a chance after being chosen to join NASA's newest astronaut class.


May
30
2013

Water Works

Features | People Profiles

Paul Jones spent 36 years in the same high school classroom. The year before his retirement he took a field assignment on the Ice with the Teachers Experiencing Antarctica program. Fast forward about 15 years and Jones, 72, is back at McMurdo Station but as a water plant operator.


Jan
04
2013

Community Roots

Features | People Profiles

No one likes to visit the dentist. So Dr. Bob Koff makes it a point to spend as much time among the McMurdo Station community as he can outside the dental clinic. It's not a surprise: Community service has been a cornerstone of the well-traveled dentist's entire career.


Dec
21
2012

A Different Tune

Features | People Profiles

A trip to Antarctica is often a dream come true for many. It happened for Frank Abbatecola, a heavy equipment operator at McMurdo Station for nearly a decade. But he gave up life on the Ice to pursue an altogether different dream as a rock star in Denver.


Apr
13
2012

The Ice Man

Features | People Profiles

Who needs outer space when you have the South Pole? Not Robert Schwarz. His aspirations to be an astronaut never quite worked out. But he's spent more time at the bottom of the Earth than any human has orbiting the planet.


Mar
23
2012

Retirement

Features | People Profiles

From a unique vantage point, spanning the end of one century and the beginning of another, Karl Erb, soon to step down as the longest-serving director of the Office of Polar Programs, reflects on the future of the U.S. Antarctic Program by looking backward at what has changed in the past dozen years.


Jan
20
2012

The Next Generation

Features | People Profiles

A century ago, Briton Robert Falcon Scott and Norwegian Roald Amundsen raced to be the first people to reach the geographic South Pole, one of the last great feats of polar exploration. Today, two men with similar names are in Antarctica during the centennial season.


May
06
2011

Arctic Adventure

Features | People Profiles

John Moriarty is one of those ordinary people who never seem to pass up an opportunity to do something extraordinary. In 1968, Moriarty's sense of adventure propelled him to join a team of arctic adventurers that became the first to make an overland traverse to the North Pole using snowmobiles.


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