Social dynamics in an isolated, confined, and extreme workplace
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SPECIAL ISSUE: INDOOR BIOMETEOROLOGY
Social dynamics in an isolated, confined, and extreme workplace Richard J. Wolak 1
&
Jeffrey C. Johnson 2
Received: 30 May 2020 / Revised: 28 October 2020 / Accepted: 29 October 2020 # ISB 2020
Abstract There can be few indoor workplaces that are more subject to the meteorological and atmospheric conditions of their locations than permanent stations on the high, inland polar plateau of Antarctica. The US Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is such a workplace, totally isolated during the 8–9 months of the austral winter, more than 800 miles (1287 km) from the nearest other human habitation. The wintering party at the South Pole must deal with all the demands and stressors of an isolated, confined, and extreme environment without the prospect of relief from the outside world. In 1975, the seventeen men chosen to winter at the South Pole had an additional challenge. In February, as the austral winter was about to begin, a new geodesic-domed research station had just been completed. The station was the first of its kind, and the vagaries of its design and construction would be significant factors in the health and well-being of station residents as winter progressed. Potential physical and psychological problems from isolation literature are commented upon, and some significant events from this noteworthy winter are described. In addition, supporting quantitative data from current research at South Pole are used to better understand these events. Keywords Antarctica . South Pole . Indoor biometeorology . Isolation . Confinement . Human adaptation
So in a physical sense, we at the Pole were eighteen men in a box. Only with the aid of our “box” could we survive, yet it bound us in. There was no way we could make our way to the outside world. Nor was there any possibility that we could be rescued should tragedy strike. We would have to remain put until the next summer – in October or November – come what might. There was also the very large problem of how the men would stand each other’s company in the daily rub and grind that would be their steady routine for months without respite…. Whatever a man was inherently would be intensified during the close-quarters winter night. A mean man would grow meaner; a kind man would grow kinder. Men in a box; that was what we were. Paul Siple, PhD (1959, p. 246) South Pole Station Leader, 1957
* Richard J. Wolak
1
First Year Programs & Learning Communities, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
2
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Introduction Without question, one of the most memorable years of one of the author’s (Wolak) life was that spent as station manager of the newly constructed, geodesic-domed research station at the Geographic South Pole in 1975. Wintering at the South Pole allows for a strictly defined use of the word “unique.” The nearly 9-month period of total isolation under extreme environmental conditions constitutes an analog for space travel. The following is a first-hand perspec
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