What time zone is it at the South Pole?

In response to last week's question, "What time zone is it at the South Pole?", my sailing friend Caroline figured "it's time for a hot toddy!" while my video tech guru friend Gian more calmly suggested, "it's time to go home to a hot cocoa and Top Gear on the telly."

While my friend Richard suggested "it's time to go someplace warmer!", which my friend Royce more descriptively wrote, "who cares when you're trying to keep your tush from freezing off."

My dad's beach buddy Bob wrote, 'It depends on which way you are facing ," to which my friend Dave wrote, "Having been in Antarctica, I have gone "hmmmm...." over this before. It truly does make you wonder. Even outside the pole itself, much of the continent has long stretches where the sun never sets or never rises. So the whole rationale for picking a time zone is not astronomical. And since most of the continent is empty, coordinating time within the continent is not as high a priority as coordinating with the outside world. [More from David at the end of this note.]

My friends John and Kathleen added, "The U.S. station at the South Pole used New Zealand time because most Americans who go to Antarctica for the U.S. Antarctic Program fly from Christchurch, NZ." John added, "It’s amazing how many parallels there are between the North Pole and the South Pole; however, time zones are not one of them. (heh heh). One wise person surmised it doesn't matter because it's so cold you can't raise your sleeve long enough to look at your watch anyway!"

Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmmm' " :

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

Live well......laugh often....have a good week.

Hal

More from David: So, it turns out that each research base picks its own time zone, and they usually choose based on either the time zone of the nearest jumping off point for getting to the station (US stations do this), or of their home base (Russian stations except on the Antarctic peninsula do this).

For example, the station at the south pole (Amundsen) is run by the US and is usually reached from New Zealand, so it uses the NZ time zone. The US base on the coast nearest to NZ (McMurdo) also uses that time zone, but the US base on the peninsula uses Chile time. The Vostok station, run by Russia, is closer to the USA station at the Pole than any of those other stations, but it uses Moscow time.

From Scott: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/2004-12-28-polar-times-_x.htm