Design and Operational Issues While Tunneling in Firn at the South Pole Station

• Main Author: Walsh, Michael R.
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Civil Engineering; Geography; *POLAR REGIONS; *SNOW; *TUNNELING; *WATER TUNNELS; STATIONS; LOW TEMPERATURE; PERFORMANCE(ENGINEERING); RESEARCH FACILITIES; SOUTH(DIRECTION); ANTARCTIC REGIONS; *SOUTH POLE STATION; *FIRN; SOUTH POLE; Amundsen Scott South Pole Station; Amundsen-Scott; Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station; Antarctic; South Pole; Antarc*; National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs; South pole
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA417722; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA417722

Locating utilities on the surface at the United States' Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station causes many maintenance problems unique to that environment. The extreme low temperatures, drifting snow, and long, dark winters all restrict easy access to these critical components for most of the year. To avoid these problems, a tunneling system to drive tunnels in the dense, hard firn at the South Pole was designed and built for the National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs. From 1996 through 2002, a series of 2 3-m tunnels were driven for the water system for both the current station and the new station at the pole. This report describes the design and operational problems that were addressed while driving these tunnels at Pole.