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Scientific party on the way to Concordia European base (Dome C), Antarctic (South Pole) (75°00’ S, 124°00’ E).Italian base, Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica (South Pole) (74°45’ S - 164°30’ E).Icebergs off the Adelie coast (South Pole) (67°00’ S, 139°00’ E).
Olympus Range, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°30’S, 162°00’E).Polygonal patterned ground in Beacon valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°50’ S, 160°50’ E). Polygonal patterned ground in Beacon valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°50’ S, 160°50’ E).
Minna Bluff, Victoria Land, Antarctique (pôle Sud) (78°30’ S, 166°53’ E). Wright Upper Glacier and The Labyrinth in Wright Valley, Dry Valleys, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°33’ S, 160°50’ E). US base at McMurdo, island of Ross, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°50’ S, 166°50’ E).
US Base at McMurdo and Observation Hill, Hut Point Peninsula, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°51’ S, 166°41’ E).Polygonal patterned ground, Beacon Valley, Dry Valleys, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°48’ S, 160°50’ E). Finger mountains, Taylor Valley, Dry Valleys, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°44’ S, 160°56’ E).
Mullins Glacier and the Beacon Valley, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°49’ S, 160°38’ E). Taylor Valley, Chain of the Dry Valleys, Antarctica (South Pole)(77°41’ S, 162°45’ E).McMurdo Dry valleys, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°28
West Beacon, Taylor Valley, Dry Valleys, Antarctica (South Pole) (61° 5’ S, 161°00’ E). Commonwealth Glacier, Taylor Valley, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°35’ S, 163°19’ E). Gondola ridge and the MacKay glacier, Dry Valleys, Antartica (77°02’ S, 161°50’ E).
Ice Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica (South Pole)(77°51’ S, 166°28’ E).Ice Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica (South Pole)(77°51’ S, 166°28’ E).Ventifacts, Dry Valley, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°00’ S, 160°00’ E).
Ventifacts, Dry Valley, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°00’ S, 160°00’ E). Polygonal patterned ground, Minna Bluff, Antarctica (South Pole) (78°23’ S, 166°19’ E).Polygonal patterned ground, Minna Bluff, Antarctica (South Pole) (78°23’ S, 166°19’ E).
Sea ice of Ross and Mount Erebus, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica (South Pole) (76°12’ S, 163°57’ E).Emperor Penguin Colony at Beaufort Island, Antarctica (72°00’ S - 167°00’ E).Erebus Ice Tongue and Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°41’ S, 166°48’ E).



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Polygonal patterned ground in Beacon valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (South Pole) (77°50’ S, 160°50’ E).

The bottom of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, one of the very few iceless regions in this continent, is strewn with polygonal ground patterns rather like holes in a driedup pond. The extreme variations of temperature between summer and winter, when Antarctica is enveloped in six months of night and the temperature drops some 90°F (50°C), cause the ice deep down in the soil alternately to freeze and melt, thus creating this extraordinary mineral tapestry. The reason for these polygonal formations has never been fully explained, but their location has been pinpointed very precisely: they occur where the ground is permanently frozen, both in Antarctica and in the Arctic. Planet Earth does not, however, have a monopoly on these designs: pictures of Mars taken by the Mars Global Surveyor and by the rovers Spirit and Opportunity strikingly reveal identical polygonal patterns in the polar regions of the Red Planet, but on a colossal scale; the polygons measure several miles across, compared to the 30 to 100 feet (10 to 30 m) of those on Earth.

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