It is the southernmost point under the jurisdiction not sovereignty of the United States. The station is located on the high plateau of Antarctica at 9, feet 2, m above sea level. Scott , who led separate teams that raced to become the first to the pole in the early s.
The original AmundsenβScott Station was built by Navy Seabees for the federal government of the United States during November , as part of its commitment to the scientific goals of the International Geophysical Year , an effort lasting from January to June to study, among other things, the geophysics of the polar regions of Earth.
Before November , there was no permanent artificial structure at the pole, and practically no human presence in the interior of Antarctica. The few scientific stations in Antarctica were near its coast. The station has been continuously occupied since it was built and has been rebuilt, expanded, and upgraded several times. The station is the only inhabited place on the surface of the Earth from which the Sun is continuously visible for six months; it is then continuously dark for the next six months, with approximately two days of averaged dark and light, twilight, namely the equinoxes.
These are, in observational terms, called one extremely long "day" and one equally long "night". During the six-month "day", the angle of elevation of the Sun above the horizon varies incrementally. The Sun reaches a rising position throughout the September equinox , and then it is apparent highest at the December solstice which is summer solstice for the south, setting on the March equinox. The number of scientific researchers and members of the support staff housed at the AmundsenβScott Station has always varied seasonally, with a peak population of around in the summer operational season from October to February.
In recent years the wintertime population has been around 50 people. The original South Pole station is now referred to as "Old Pole". The station was constructed by U. The U. The buildings were constructed from prefabricated four-by-eight-foot modular panels.
