INDEX
ANI 188–90
adventurers 182–5, 194
adventures, variety of options 188–91
aerial flag dropping 140
air balloon, Scott launches 77
altitude, health problems 92
Amundsen, Roald 8, 65, 158
account challenged 75–6
artefacts left at Polheim 13
attempts 67
bronze bust 56
centenary 184–5
‘decouple’ from Scott 76
first to reach the Pole 8
flies over North Pole 78
letter to Scott 11–12, 13, 67, 69
location of Pole 11–12
narratives sources for fiction 55–6
Norwegian claim 139
as pole-hunter 65–7
previous attempts 56
secrecy decision questioned 74
tent 11, 13, 67, 69, 84, 154, 157, 180
Amundsen’s team 12, 14, 157
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station 8, 82–7, 86, 87, 89–90, 89, 91, 111, 146–8, 165, 166, 167
Antarctic environment, superlatives applied to 98
Antarctic explorers, inward journey experience 40
Antarctic Peninsula 99, 103, 117, 124, 138, 160, 187
Antarctic Treaty System 15, 118, 121–2, 145–8, 151
Antarctica 26, 126
and South Pole 26–7
continental drift 16, 120–21
coldest pole 25
‘last wilderness’ 40–41
locating the coastline 25
management controversy 122
windiest continent 108–9
antifreeze glycoproteins 122
Argentina 142
Aristotle 20, 28
Arnesen, Liv 183
artwork 153–4, 168
Astrolabe Subglacial Basin 104–5
astronomical research 128–33
Aurora Australis 111, 114
auroras 111–12
Australia, territorial claim 142
Bainbridge, Beryl (The Birthday Boys) 75
Beaumont, Arthur (artist) 160
bedrock 104
Bellingshausen, Thaddeus von 58
‘Big Bang’, evidence of 131
bioprospecting 122, 146
birdlife 115–17
births 108
Bjaaland, Olav 14, 67, 155–6, 157
Blizzard (documentary) 184
Blue Marble, The 42–3, 43
Boissonnet, Philippe (artist) 37
Borchgrevink, Carsten 60
Bowers, Henry ‘Birdie’ 16, 70–71, 157, 167, 169
breast cancer self-diagnosis 93
British flag, makeshift 64
Bruce, William Speirs 61
Bull, Henryk Johan 60
Byrd, Richard 78–9, 79, 81, 138, 140, 143, 160
Camp (Nolan) 161, 162
Cape Adare 60
cartographic coordinates, Earth’s system 18–19
cartography 28–33, 37, 41
celebrations 95
Celestial North Pole, movement cycle 20–21
celestial poles 20, 21
centenary events 184–6
Ceremonial Pole 13, 15, 145, 168–9
Charcot (French station) 149
Chile 142
Christmas ‘tree’ 95
climate change
ice core examination 134–5
impact on Antarctica 122, 124–5
CMBR 130–31
coal seams 121
Coldwell, Paul (artist) 168, 172
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ 51–2, 117, 153
Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition 70–80, 178
communication options 94
compasses 21, 28
continental drift, Antarctica 16, 120–21
Conrad, Max 180
Cook, Frederick 11, 65, 78
Cook, James 56–8
Cortadas, Xavier 168–9
CRAMRA 121–2
crevasses 110
cruise-ship tourism 187
‘Dark Energy’ 131
David, Edgeworth 63–4
Davis, John 58
‘day’ 17
deaths 92
declination 22
Defoe, Daniel (A New Voyage round the World) 47
dogs 62, 76, 94, 118, 119, 181
Dome A 25, 102–5, 108, 129–30, 150
Dome C 135, 150
Dome F 130, 150
Dome Fuji Station (Japan) 150
Dome Station 85–8, 85
‘domes’, ice plateau 150
Doré, Gustave 153
Dorfman, Ariel (The Nanny and the Iceberg) 137–8
Dumont d’Urville (French station) 149
D’Urville, Jules Dumont 58–9, 140
Earth
asymmetrical shape 18
axis of rotation 17–19, 20, 21
hollowness speculation 23, 34–5, 50
magnetic field 22, 23
rotation 17
satellite image 126
spherical argument 20
earthquakes 133
Earthrise (from Apollo 8) 42
East Antarctic 99, 103, 119–20, 124
Eielson, Ben 77–8
elephant seals 116
elevation, mean height 99, 102
Eliot, T. S. 27
entertainment 84
Evans, Edward ‘Taff’ 70, 72–3
exploration
scientific and geographic 61
self-discovery 37, 40
farewelling of summer personnel 96
fiction 44–52, 54, 55, 75
Fiennes, Ranulph 40, 176
films 172–3
firsts
Amundsen reaches Pole 8
artist to reach the Pole 154
attraction of ‘firstness’ 193
bio-fuelled vehicle 182
black African to walk
unassisted to Pole 183
British territorial claim 140
British woman walks to Pole 177
civilian flight to Pole 180
continental landing 58
expedition to overwinter 60–61
flight in region 77–8
flight over Pole by private plane 179
human birth 146
humans on Edward VII Land 69
official claim in literature 44
painting 152, 160
photos from Amundsen’s expedition 156
photos of Antarctic icebergs 155
photos of Antarctic land 155
photos on the continent 155
residents 82
scientific station 8
solo continental crossing 183
‘tourist’ to the South Pole 175
unassisted/unsupported solo traverse 183
winterovers group 90
winterovers of racial diversity 91
woman flies bi-polar journey 180
women arrive 90
women to reach Pole 194–5
women to reach Pole overland 180
women working at South Pole 91
flagline in the ‘Dark Sector’ 131
flights 179–80, 186–8
‘Footsteps of Scott’ expedition 179
Forster, George 152
fossil specimens 120
‘Framheim’ (coastal base) 12, 67
France 140, 143–4
Fuchs, Vivian 79–80
Gamburtsev Mountains 105
Geographic South Pole 9, 164
2012 marker 17
all directions are north 84
climate change effect 124
continental movement 120
northwest drift 24
phrases for 18–19
politically potent site 138
position on continent 25
‘geomagnetic pole’ term 23
Geomagnetic South Pole 112, 144, 149
geothermal heat, possibility 45–6
gift shop 193, 194–5
global warming 122, 122–3, 124–5
Gondwana 16, 120–21
Google Earth 41
Greek words 16–17, 19
Greeks, Presocratic beliefs 19
Greenpeace blockade 147
Halley, Edmond 22–3, 56
‘halo’ phenomena 111–14
hamsters 118
Hanssen, Helmar 14, 67, 118, 157
Harry, Prince 182–3
Hartley, Catherine 177, 195
health issues in winter 92–3
Hillary, Sir Edmund 79–80
Hodges, William 152
hollow Earth myth 34
Holt, Kåre (Kappløpet) 75
‘Hughes Doctrine’ 143
Hurley, Frank 158–9
IAATO 191–2
ice core 134–5, 135, 149–50
ice crystals 113
ice movement 16, 133
ice shelves
floating 98
Larsen B collapse 121
ice thickness 104–5
‘ice time’ hierarchy 92
IceCube Neutrino Observatory 132–3
In the Great White Land (Stables) 53, 54
Indian myth 32, 35–6
Indigenous people 32–3
Inferno (Dante) 44
International Geophysical Year (IGY) 82, 135, 138, 143, 145
International Trans-Antarctica Expedition 181
introduced animals 119
isostatic rebound 98
Jamesway huts, snow-covered 128
Japanese South Polar Expedition 68–9, 68, 139–40
Johansen, Hjalmar 76
Kagge, Erling 40, 183
katabatics 105, 108
Kazama, Shinji 182, 182
Kircher, Athanasius, Mundus subterraneus 33–4, 36
Klipper, Stuart 163, 164
Kristensen, Monica 180
Kunlun (Chinese base) 102, 104, 108, 150
laboratory animals 118
Lake Vostok 98, 99, 149
landscape 109–11
Larsen B Ice Shelf 121, 122–3, 124
Lê, An-My 164–5, 165
Le Guin, Ursula K., ‘Sur’ 75
Lenin bust 151
licence plate, South Pole 41
lichen 117
‘Little America’ 78, 78
location of South Pole 11–12, 13, 14, 15–18
lodestones, polarity of 21–2
Mackay, Alistair 63
Macrobius 29–30
Madrid Protocol (1991) 118, 122, 181
Magnetic North Pole 23–4, 25
magnetic poles 21, 23
Magnetic South Pole
1590–2010 movement 24
current position 24
David’s attempt 63
inaccessible by ship 59
location claims 60
shifting daily 63–4
maps
Antarctica and Southern Ocean 6
on bald head 37, 38–9
cordiform, of polar regions (1531) 32
early Arabic 28
Magnetic South Pole
movement 24
medieval 29
Mercator projection (1931) 29
polar region 13
stations 150
territorial claims 139
world 30, 31, 31, 46
marine mammals 116
Markham, Clements 69
Martin A. Pomerantz Observatory (MAPO) 130
Matrix Shackleton Centenary Expedition 184
Mawson, Douglas
aeroplane 77
Magnetic South Pole 24, 63–5
mineral resources 121
need for celebration 95
term ‘South Pole’ 26–7
wind speed 108
Mear, Roger 179–80
Mercator projection 28, 84
Messner, Reinhold 180–81
midges 117
mineral resources
fictional speculation 47–8
potential for mining 121–2
mock moons 114
motorcycle, overland speed record 182
Mount Erebus disaster 168, 187
Mount Vinson 99, 188, 189
music, Antarctic 160
mythological narratives 31–6
national claims 138–45, 139
Nemo, Captain 44, 45
neutrinos 132–3
New Zealand 142
Nielsen, Jerri 82, 86–7, 93
‘Ninety Degrees South’ expedition 180
Noble, Anne 166–8, 168, 187
Nolan, Sidney (Camp) 161, 162
non-human life 118
north, magnetic vs true 22
North Pole
movement 18, 124–5
mythology 36
topography 17
North Pole, Celestial, Presocratic Greek belief 19–20
Norway 139, 141, 142
‘nunataks’ 105
Oates, Lawrence ‘Titus’ 70, 72, 73, 174–5
optical phenomena 111–15
oral tradition, frozen southern regions 33
Ousland, Børge 183–4
overland speed record 182
paraselenae 114
parhelia 114
Peary, Robert 11, 65, 78
penguins 116–17, 118, 119
photographic equipment 155, 159
photography 154–72
place names 59–60
Poe, Edgar Allan 25, 46, 50–51
polar heroes, mythologized 74
polar legends see mythological narratives
polar projections 31
Polar Sky (book, endpapers) 42
Polaris Australis 21
Pole markers
Ceremonial Pole 13
Norwegians’ approximation 12
pole of inaccessibility term 25
Pole Star 20–21
pole-hunting, late 1830s 58–9
Poles, many alternatives 18–19
‘Polheim’ (Pole base) 12
political debates, contemporary 148–9
Polynesian legends 33
ponies 64, 70, 72
Ponting, Herbert 157–8, 159
population 108
Porter, Eliot 161–3
postcards 70, 71, 141
power generation 87
precipitation 103–4
private expeditions vs national programmes 179
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty 122
psychological questionnaires 93–4
psychology, poles as portals to self 36–7, 40
Ptolemy (Geographia) 29
races at the South Pole 185
re-enactments 179, 184–6
rituals 96
‘road’, McMurdo to the Pole 88, 148–9, 176
Robinson, Kim Stanley (Antarctica) 81–2, 90
‘Rodriguez well’ 87
Ross, James Clark 23–4, 34, 45, 59–60, 152
runway, blue ice 188, 189
Russia 138, 144, 151
Samaras, Connie 89, 165–6, 167
sastrugi 110, 111
Schulthess, Emil 160
scientific investigation
advantages of location 127–8
official reason for presence 135–6
Scott, Kathleen 69, 74
Scott, Robert Falcon 69, 74, 76
accidental explorer 61
auroral light 112
centenary 182, 184–6
death 8, 73
decisions questioned 74
expedition instructions 61
geology samples 120
journals controversial 75
location of Pole 12
national claim 139
reputation 74–5
route to Pole 15
second expedition 69–73
Scott of the Antarctic (film) 160
Scott’s polar party 16, 77
sea ice 105, 106–7
sea level rise 124
seal hunting 58, 60
Shackleton, Ernest 64
abandons attempt 64–5
centenary 184
own expedition 62–3
photographic equipment 155
Scott’s first expedition 61–2
Shirase, Nobu 68–9, 139–40
Sigma Octantis 21
Simpson, George 113–14
Siple, Paul 83–4, 94, 110–11, 138
skuas 115
skydiving 190–91
social divide, scientists/support personnel 92
social patterns, formation of 94
solar halos 112–14, 113
South Pole Food Growth Chamber 120
‘South Pole Hotel’ 89
South Pole Ice Core project 135
South Pole Inn, Ireland 184
South Pole International Film Festival (SPIFF) 169
South Pole of Inaccessibility 25, 108, 144, 151
South Pole Remote Earth Science Observatory (SPRESO) 133–4
South Pole Telescope (SPT) 130, 131, 132
South Pole, The (Amundsen) 56, 57
South Pole Traverse 148–9
Southern Lights 111
Soviet Union see Russia
‘Spoolhenge’ 170–71, 172
stamps, commemorative 146
statistics
coldest air temperature 25
continent area 98–9
ice volume 98
tourists 192
wintering personnel 91, 92
subglacial lakes 98
sun dogs 113, 114
sunrise/sunset 114
Symmes, John Cleves, Jr 35, 50, 134
technology, ‘mixed blessing’ 94–5
temperatures 25, 102–3, 124
Terra Incognita 30, 32
terrestrial life 117
terrestrial poles, ancient 32
Terrestrial South Pole see Geographic South Pole
territorial claims, moratorium 145
Thing, The (film) 36–7, 37, 96
‘third pole’ (Mt Everest) 80, 174
time zones 84
Tom Swift and his Atomic Earth Blaster (Appleton) 48, 49
topographic features 110
tourism
Antarctic definition 175–6
cruise ships 187
high costs 189, 192
late 20th-century 174