From Woody's Couch

This blog post is part of the Frozen Friday Series, an A-Z journey of the Polar Archives.  Each week, we will feature some aspect of the history of polar exploration with a blog post written by our student authors.

A group of people gather in front of the stage. They are bundled up in puffy coats and warm winter hats or hoods. It is a motley group and the largest gathering of people anyone in the crowd has seen for months. There’s a certain nip in the air, although the temperature is higher than usual. The band on stage seems to have chosen to abandon their fingers to the cold as they refuse to put on gloves for fear of tarnishing their performance. In all, the excitement for the much anticipated performance and the heat of the moment will warm them. The planning committee did their work well. They picked a good day for Icestock this year.

Icestock has become something of a tradition at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Every year around the first of January, a stage and audio equipment are set up for musicians to demonstrate their talent in front of a small crowd of the station’s occupants. Several genres of music are played for McMurdo’s mostly scientist population, including rock, funk, electronica, and even bluegrass.[1] The event also includes a chili cook-off, a welcome meal for the eager audience.[2] It is unknown whether this pun was intentional or unintentional at this time.

 

 

That the New Year is regularly welcomed by a music concert on Antarctic soil is something of an anomaly. Then again, the idea that there could be a permanent human settlement on the coldest of continents might also seem absurd to the less informed. McMurdo Station is located on the ice-free tip of Ross Island, just around eight hundred miles away from the South Pole, and houses over one thousand people (mostly Americans) every Antarctic Summer.[3] Though the population drops significantly in the Antarctic Winter as residents cycle out, the station is still maintained and operated by the smaller population of around two hundred individuals.[4]

McMurdo Station, named for the nearby McMurdo Sound (which is in turn named for Lieutenant Archibald McMurdo of the HMS Terror), is an up-to-date scientific research station and includes all of the necessary facilities required for a modern-day human presence in Antarctica.[5]  In addition to the world’s southernmost seaport, Winter Quarters Bay, McMurdo Station operates two runways and a skiway (a runway designed for use with ski-equipped planes).[6] McMurdo is also typically equipped with six C-130s, two Twin Otter aircraft, and four helicopters.[7] The station has working telephones, email, and internet, allowing the population to remain in contact with the outside world.[8] The United States Antarctic Program even has several live web cameras from McMurdo Station posted on their website! Diesel engines generate energy while also providing heat to buildings.[9] In terms of scientific instruments, McMurdo has a large multidiscipline laboratory with various facilities meant to support and house scientific work.[10]

McMurdo Station is crucial in human Antarctic activities. While McMurdo serves as the primary United States base in Antarctica, it also serves as a support center for other research stations in and around the continent.[11] Located near many natural sites of scientific interest, McMurdo Station is ubiquitous to the modern Antarctic explorer’s experience. Many such scientists, such as Lois Jones and Henry Brecher, have spent time in its halls and many of their collections can be found in the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program. Also, check out our digital collections page, where you can find images of McMurdo!

Written by John Hooton.

[1] Jeremy Day, “Mid-Summer Holidays,” The Antarctic Sun, January 05, 2017, accessed January 18, 2017, https://antarcticsun.usap.gov/aroundTheContinent/contentHandler.cfm?id=4292

[2] Day, “Mid-Summer Holidays.”

[3] Encyclopedia of the Antarctic, s.v. “McMurdo Station,” New York: Routledge, 2007.

[4] Encyclopedia of the Antarctic.

[5] The Geographic Names Information System is our authoritative source on geographic location information in Antarctica.

[6] Encyclopedia of the Antarctic.

[7] Encyclopedia of the Antarctic.

[8] Encyclopedia of the Antarctic.

[9] Encyclopedia of the Antarctic.

[10] Encyclopedia of the Antarctic.

[11] Encyclopedia of the Antarctic.