The science station called McMurdo has been operating on the southern tip of the continent since 1956. It’s an important research center, attracting geologists, physicists, engineers, hydrologists, pilots, and just plain adventure-seekers. McMurdo Station has grown so much, in fact, that it’s really a town unto itself. It’s got a harbor, three airfields, a heliport, over a hundred buildings, even three bars and a bowling alley. After all, if people are going to work in such a bleak outpost, they need some recreation!
About a thousand people work at McMurdo in the summer -- 200 in the dead of winter -- and the scientists depend on the non-scientists to keep the place humming.
SOUNDPRINT went to McMurdo as part of the International Polar Year Media Collaboration Pole to Pole to cover a scientific project. While we were there, we met the diverse and colorful group of people who constitute LIFE AT MCMURDO.
Links:
McMurdo Webcam
Want to see what the weather is like right now at the McMurdo station? The station has a webcam setup for everyone to see.
The Antarctic Sun
Funded by the National Science Foundation, this online newspaper's contents is based on the Antarctic community, research updates and scientific findings.
Books:
 On the Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station, Antarctica
by: Gretchen Legler 2005
Sent to document life at McMurdo station in the Antarctic, Legler observes and experiences life at the bottom of the earth.
 The Worst Journey in the World
by: Apsley Cherry-Garrard 2006
Cherry-Garrard, part of the Robet Scott's doomed expedition team, recounts the horrible and unbearbale environment he faced in South Pole.
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