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Arrival Heights Camera

Observation Hill Camera

McMurdo Station seen from the summit of Observation Hill.

The McMurdo Station Webcams

The Arrival Heights Webcam is located on the edge of Arrival Heights just north of Hut Point on the west side of Hut Point Peninsula. During the winter the camera is focused on the center of McMurdo Station to take advantage of the lights that illuminate the station during the polar night. This view includes Building 155; housing the station dining facility, library, station store, television and radio studios, offices, and some dormitory space; the station medical clinic; and firehouse. To the left are warehouses, construction and maintenance workshops, and the science support center. In the upper right is the Crary Science and Engineering Center and to its left is the NSF Chalet. The foreground includes several dormitories.

The Observation Hill (Ob Hill) Webcam is located on Ob Hill, a very large hill adjacent to McMurdo Station. It is approximately 750 feet (230 meters) high and climbing it is similar to walking up 40 flights of stairs. On a clear day, it offers a good view of the station. The Ob Hill camera is focused on McMurdo Station with a view showing the Crary Science and Engineering Center in the center, McMurdo Sound and the pier to the left, and several dormitories to the right.

For information about current research conducted in or near McMurdo Station, see the NSF McMurdo Station and Vicinity Research Projects page.

NOTE: Camera images are often obscured due to harsh and unpredictable weather conditions.

McMurdo Station (77°51'S, 166°40'E), the main U.S. station in Antarctica, is a coastal station at the southern tip of Ross Island, about 3,864 km (2,415 miles) south of Christchurch, New Zealand, and 1,360 km (850 miles) north of the South Pole. The original station was built in 1955 to 1956 for the International Geophysical Year. Today's station is the primary logistics facility for supply of inland stations and remote field camps, and is also the waste management center for much of the U.S. Antarctic Program. Year-round and summer science projects are supported at McMurdo.

The station has a harbor, landing strips on the sea ice and shelf ice, and a helicopter pad. The three airfields-the annual sea-ice runway, Pegasus White Ice Runway, and Williams Field Skiway-are used at different times of the year for different reasons. Repair facilities, dormitories, administrative buildings, a firehouse, power plant, water distillation plant, wharf, stores, clubs, warehouses, a science support center, and the first-class, 4,320 square-meter Crary Lab are linked by above-ground water, sewer, telephone, and power lines.

The mean annual temperature is -18°C (0°F). Temperatures may reach 8°C (46°F) in summer and -50°C (-58°F) in winter. The average wind is 12 knots, but winds have exceeded 100 knots.

Research is performed at and near McMurdo Station in aeronomy and astrophysics , organisms and ecosystems , earth sciences , glaciology and glacial geology , integrated system science , ocean and atmospheric sciences . Participants of the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program also work at sites in the area. For projects supported during the 2010-2011 season, see the McMurdo Station Science Program Index in the USAP Science Planning Summary. McMurdo Station is also the launch site for deep field projects in East and West Antarctica. For information about these projects see the Special Projects Science Program Index.

To find out more about life at U.S. Antarctic research stations, see the Around the Continent section of The Antarctic Sun .