Researchers at the South Pole brace for 6 months without sunlight

Sunset at the South Pole. — (Image credit: Twitter.com/NOAA)

The next six months are going to be very dark and very cold for researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's South Pole Atmospheric Baseline Observatory.

Sunday is the start of the austral autumn, meaning the sun is setting for the last time in the region until October. Temperatures regularly drop below -100 degrees Fahrenheit at the 9,305-foot altitude observatory during the winter, and it is so cold aircraft can't fly, meaning researchers hunker down until late October. "It's the coldest, driest, flattest place you can imagine," NOAA Corps Lt. Jesse Milton said.

The bone-chilling temperatures and months of darkness aren't for the faint of heart, but there are some definite perks to being marooned at the observatory: The polar plateau offers unobscured views of the southern constellations and the Aurora Australis.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.