At South Pole Station in Antarctica, the VLF group maintains a radio receiver system to measure natural VLF emissions in the 3 to 30 kHz frequency range. Two types of emissions which we often record at South Pole are chorus and auroral hiss. For more information on the VLF group's science objectives at South Pole, visit the AGO VLF Receiver homepage.
The VLF receiver system at South Pole records wave activity incident upon North/South and East/West crossed loop antennas shown in the picture below (left). A preamplifier is buried in the snow near the antenna. The remainder of the system is located in the Cusp Lab which is on the first floor of Sky Lab (the orange tower to the left of the main station dome pictured above). The racks containing the line receiver, GPS timing unit, mixer/moniter and analog recorders are picture below (right). Currently, we are recording synoptic broadband (1 minute out of every 15 minutes at 5, 20, 35, and 50 minutes after the hour) on the N/S antenna using the reel-to-reel AMPEX recorder. Continuous broadband from both the N/S and E/W antennas is recorded on Betamax tape for nine hours each day, 1300-1600 UT and 2000-0200 UT.
And then there is the Ceremonial South Pole which is surrounded by flags of countries who were the original signers of the Antarctic Treaty. This pole is not moved each year, but when these picutres where taken, November 1998, the geographic and ceremonial poles where only about 20 meters apart.
To learn more about South Pole station as well as other research stations in Antarctica, take the Virtual Tour of Antarctica which was developed by the Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica, CARA.
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