A large iceberg floats off the coast of Antarctica, seen on January 1st, 2010. Original here. #

The Koru Memorial site at Scott Base on February 15, 2011 in Antarctica. The New Zealand government flew family members of the victims of the Mount Erebus tragedy to Scott Base to remember those who lost thier lives. 257 passengers and crew were killed on November 28, 1979 when an Air New Zealand Antarctic sightseeing flight collided with Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica. #

The Matusevich Glacier flows toward the coast of East Antarctica, pushing through a channel between the Lazarev Mountains and the northwestern tip of the Wilson Hills. Each of the smaller blocks measure nearly one kilometer across. After passing through the channel, the glacier has room to spread out as it floats on the ocean. On September 6, 2010, the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this natural-color image. #

South Pole 'fuelie' Rose Meyer gets pretty cold when performing her job fueling airplanes at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on October 26, 2010. The warmest temperature recorded that week at Pole was -37.1C (-34.8F) and the coldest temperature was -50.2C (-58.4F). #

An aerial view of the Dome at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, seen on February 5, 2009. The red building in the bottom center is the old Skylab physical science building. #

Three US Antarctic Program participants stand under the geodesic dome at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station shortly before the dome was dismantled, to be replaced by a more modern structure.. Photo taken on December 5, 2009. #

Nacreous Clouds over the NASA Radome (a weatherproof structure housing a 10 meter antenna inside). Nacreous clouds (or Polar stratospheric clouds) form high in the dry stratosphere, catching sunlight well after dusk, displaying brilliant colors. Original here. #

A 20-minute exposure reveals the southern celestial axis above the new elevated station at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on July 21, 2009. At the poles, scientists can study a fixed point in the sky for months and years, whereas in the middle latitutes the stars 'move' across the night sky. The white cloudy streak is the Milky Way. #

A silhouette of the IceCube neutrino detector facility at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, sen on April 2nd, 2008. There are 2 towers, east and west for receiving cables from the large matrix of detectors buried in the ice below. #

Construction of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory takes place as a Firn Drill is lowered into the Antarctic ice. The Firn Drill melts its way through an upper layer of compacted snow (approximately 50 meters thick) to the solid Antarctic ice below - when another, enhanced hot water drill takes over to drill 2,500 meters further down. #

The last Digital Optical Module (DOM) deployed in the IceCube array. This is the last of the 5,160 DOMs deployed on 86 different "strings", suspended in ice some 1,400 meters below the surface, forming an array of neutrino detectors occupying one cubic kilometer. #

Gentoo penguins squabble in their colony in Antarctica on November 24th, 2010. Photographed as part of a fundraiser/trip titled the Penguin Project. Original here. #

A series of parallel valleys lie between the Ross Sea and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, known as the Dry Valleys. They are swept free of snow by nearly relentless katabatic winds -cold, dry air that rolls downhill toward the sea from the high altitudes of the ice sheet. In the center is frozen Lake Fryxell, near Canada Glacier, to the left. Image acquired November, 2000. #

In this handout photo taken Friday, February 5, 2010 and provided by Antarctic Heritage Trust Monday, February 8, 2010, Crates of Scotch whisky and two of brandy are seen after they have been recovered by a team restoring an Antarctic hut used more than 100 years ago by famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. #

Heavy equipment operators work to clear snow and smooth the annual sea ice near McMurdo Station, creating a landing strip in this photo taken September 24, 2009. The first C-17 jet of the austral summer landed on this runway with passengers and cargo on September 29, kicking off another season of scientific research for the US Antarctic Program. #

Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) field team member Anna Bramucci throws hot water into the air to watch it turn to ice crystals and vapor on a -25 F (-32 C) day at Lake Fryxell field camp in Taylor Valley, Victoria Land on March 30, 2008. #

Raised footprints in the Antarctic snow. After a storm, the loose snow surrounding the compacted snow under a footprint is scoured away by the wind, leaving an elevated strange-looking footprints. Original here. #

In this photo taken on February 9, 2011 and released by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru approaches Sea Shepherd's high-speed trimaran Gojira while using water cannons during their encounter in Southern Ocean, Antarctica. Japan has temporarily suspended its annual Antarctic whaling after repeated harassment by the conservationist group, a government official said Wednesday, February 16, 2011. #

Aerial photo of McMurdo Station on February 7th, 2011. The Swedish icebreaker ODEN is at the ice pier on the left. The blue building at the center of the photo is Building 155 which has the cafeteria, barbershop, store, several offices and some dormitory rooms. The brown buildings to the left of it are dormitories. Most of the rest of the buildings are work centers or storage areas. #

McMurdo Station as seen in the darkness of winter, on May 6, 2009. About 150 people spend the seven months of winter isolation at McMurdo, mostly doing maintenance repairs and preparing the station for the busy austral summer season which begins in October. The sun went down in late April and did not rise again until August. #

Antarctica's Inexpressible Island and the Northern Foothills Mountains were illuminated by a glimmer of sunlight from a low angle when the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this image on September 16, 2009. Visible are signs of the bay's persistent and fierce katabatic winds - downslope winds that blow from the interior of the ice sheet toward the coast. #

This remotely operated vehicle, known as SCINI (Submersible Capable of under Ice Navigation and Imaging) travels under the Antarctic ice to photograph benthic communities. It is used by Dr. Stacy Kim for her biological research. Photo taken on November 30, 2008. #

In this undated photo released by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, is shown a ghost-like sea-angel, platybrachium antarcticum, going through the deep Antarctic waters hunting the shelled pteropods (another type of snail) on which it feeds. #

The base of the South Pole Telescope (SPT), seen on January 21, 2010. The 10-meter parabolic dish on top of this base is capturing signals of cosmic microwave background radiation. #

The Dark Sector at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is so named due to the absence of radio and light wave interference for the telescopes located there. The buildings on the left are the IceCube drill site facilities. The next building is the Ice Cube Laboratory (ICL). The third building is the Dark Sector Lab (DSL) with the South Pole Telescope and Bicep II Telescope. The building at right is the Martin A. Pomerantz Observatory (MAPO). Photo taken on February 3, 2011. #

The Ice Cube Laboratory at Amundsen-Scott South Pole station on September 20, 2010, as dawn was breaking after six months of darkness. Ice Cube is the world's largest neutrino detector. #

This undated handout photo provided by the journal Science shows a view through the thick ice taken with penetrating radar over along the southern margin of the Gamburtsev Mountains. When it comes to ice, scientists are giving a whole new meaning to the phrase "bottoms up." Those massive ice sheets in Antarctica don't just grow from the top down, but also from the bottom up, according to new research recently published. #

A bust of Captain Luis Pardo Villalon sits on the site of the camp of the stranded crew of Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance, on Elephant Island. Pardo was the was the captain of the Chilean steam tug Yelcho which rescued the 22 stranded crewmen in 1916. Original here. #

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station experiences months of darkness. The sun dips below the horizon on March 21, after which follows several weeks of twilight before complete darkness results. Photo taken on June 25, 2009. #

Gale winds blow across the ocean, near Elephant Island on December 28th, 2010. Original here. #