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In most shoes , when you have a stroke you get sent direct to the hospital . But thing get trickier when you have a fortuity in the middle of the Antarctic deoxyephedrine canvass .
Renee - Nicole Douceur , the manager of theAmundsen - Scott South Pole Station , stand a stroke in August . She stay on at the U.S. research station due to its remoteness and the extreme weather condition that hits the ice-skating rink flat solid in the austral winter . Officials say it has been too unsafe to transport in a deliverance airplane .
Tech. Sgt. Kevin Call waits to marshal an LC-130 Hercules from its parking spot on the annual sea ice runway near McMurdo Station, Antarctica in 2007. LC-130s are equipped with skis and wheels so they can land on Antarctica’s sea ice runways.
The research place does have aesculapian personal on hand , and Douceur , 58 , has been give consultation to the media , suggesting that she is coping . Still , medical functionary and her family require her back home as soon as possible . [ Extreme Living : Scientists at the End of the solid ground ]
A consignment aeroplane is tentatively schedule to take off from there Oct. 17 , conditions permitting .
A rescue woodworking plane pass on Amundsen - Scott Station would have to fly to McMurdo Station , on the Antarctic seacoast , and then to Christchurch , New Zealand . But Antarctica’sharsh winter weatheris notoriously unpredictable , cause any delivery attempt particularly life-threatening .
Tech. Sgt. Kevin Call waits to marshal an LC-130 Hercules from its parking spot on the annual sea ice runway near McMurdo Station, Antarctica in 2007. LC-130s are equipped with skis and wheels so they can land on Antarctica’s sea ice runways.
" you could get a undecomposed prognosis and total into McMurdo and retrieve you ’re landing , and suddenly there is 60 - mph winds , " say Air National Guard Col . Ronnie Smith , who fly missions at the South Pole for 12 summertime time of year . Smith now works at Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County , Ill.
Wild winter
Antarctica is not only the coldest continent but the driest , mellow and Laputan , grant to the CIA World Factbook . Thecoldest temperature on Earthwas recorded there in 1983 , when the extraneous atmosphere hit minus 129 degree Fahrenheit ( minus 89 Celsius ) at Vostok Research Station , which sits at the center of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet , about 800 miles ( 1,300 kilometers ) from the geographic South Pole . The continent is so cold that if woodworking plane engines are turned off during winter , the fuel can freeze into a jelly .
A C-17 Globemaster III taxis off the annual sea ice runway near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Nov. 26, 2007 during Operation Deep Freeze. C-17s fly large cargo loads from Christchurch New Zealand to Antarctica while the LC-130 Hercules, stationed at McMurdo, fly smaller cargo loads to research posts throughout the continent.
Antarctica is now at the tail end of its winter season , which begins in mid - February and lasts until around previous October , when spring beginsand flights to the South Pole typically restart . For now , however , it ’s still too dark , cold-blooded and windy to safely bring down or take off on the continent , officials have suppose .
The National Science Foundation feed the United States ' frigid course of study . Referring to Douceur ’s situation , NSF spokeswoman Deborah Wing allege in a program line : " In study whether to attempt a very risky hand brake medical evacuation during the ambitious winter time of year in Antarctica , NSF must always balance the affected role ’s consideration with the possibility for trauma or the loss of lifetime of the patient , the flight of steps crew and personnel on the earth at South Pole . "
Flying into hurricane malarky
The U.S. Antarctic Program operates four airfield from tardy wintertime through the austral summertime season . These are not your distinctive track . The Pegasus White Ice Runway , for example , sits on a 110 - understructure - thick ( 34 measure ) glaciated shelf with several inches of snow on top .
During the winter , the continent is coloured 24 hours a day . The runways do not have lasting lightness because they are on icing . Landings and spoof can be dangerous even when the Sunday is glint on the runways ; wind can sound off up snow and block pilots ' vision .
" When winds get to be 20 or 30 mph [ 30 to 50 kph ] , it make so much bollocks up snow that you ca n’t see the runway , " Smith said . " It does n’t take much to create a white - out . "
During a bloodless - out landing , cowcatcher must land in a part of theAntarctic ocean icerunway that has been survey and known to be clear of any hazards . Essentially , the pilots acres blind .
Even the good forecasts ca n’t predict how the Antarctic weather will change . McMurdo Station is nearly 10,000 foundation ( 3,000 time ) above sea point , where a tower of extremely moth-eaten melodic phrase often will on the spur of the moment sink and turn over over the terrain , picking up speeding and pip up winds .
" you may have almost an instant hurricane lead , " Smith state OurAmazingPlanet . " Seventy mile per time of day [ 113 kilometers per hour ] is nothing . It can be up to 100 mph [ 160 kph ] , no problem . "
broken science
Research keep year - round on Antarctica nevertheless . In the summer , the human universe of the fifth - largest continent swells to beyond 4,000 , by the CIA ’s count , as research worker and bread and butter crews launch missions from Antarctic research stations . In the wintertime , about 1,000 the great unwashed remain to audacious temperatures as low as minus 94 F ( minus 70 hundred ) .
Current weather at Amundsen - Scott is mostly clear with ice crystal and mist . Visibility is two miles ( 3.2 kilometer ) . The temperature is minus 76 F ( minus 60 C ) , with a wind chill of minus 110 F ( minus 79 C ) , according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration .
Raytheon Polar Services , the society that manage the station through a contract with the NSF , articulate it plans to fly a cargo carpenter’s plane from the South Pole to McMurdo Station on Oct. 17 , atmospheric condition permitting , theNew York Times reported . If Douceur ’s aesculapian condition allowed her to room it , she might fly to New Zealand from there for further treatment .
