Cold comfort

摘要

The wailing sound of a saxophone can sometimes be heard echoing through the night on Dronning Maud Land in Antarctica. Anna Mueller, a physician and the base commander of Germany's Neu-mayer research station, plays the sax to banish the loneliness and boredom that creep up during the dark, freezing polar winters. Life in the narrow station has left its mark on the four men and five women who have wintered on the 12-year-old base, now buried under 20 metres of snow. During the long winter months there was little scientific work to do here, other than the daily checking of meteorological instruments. Spring has finally arrived, but during July and August some crew members did not leave the window-less tubes for weeks. Only in December, when the summer crew arrives, will life in this voluntary prison become more enjoyable again.