Antarctica Needs a Network Engineer

littlekorea writes "It's a little underpaid, but network engineers with a fetish for very cold weather might be interested to know that the Australian Government's Antarctic Division is seeking network engineers to manage its telephony, satellite and radio comms in Antarctica. According to the job FAQ, summer temperatures aren't a lot colder than your average data centre. But winters of -30 degrees celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) might make the morning jog a little challenging."

Comments

Cooling is actually problematic there.

[the_other_chewey]

I read a very intersting article about IT at the south pole a while ago. One of the most surprising facts:
They need extra large fans to cool their servers. The Amundsen-Scott station is alomst 3000m above sea level,
which means rather thin air - so they need a higher throughput to achieve the same cooling capacity than a
data center at more usal elevations.

The cold outside temperature means no real need for AC, but doesn't help too much in terms of cooling power:
The difference between 295K and 250K isn't that big and outweighed by the lower air density.

Re:Don't need to move to be cold

[smitty777]

So, just to put it in perspective, the average winter is between -112 to -130 F. The coldest naturally occurring temperature on the face of the earth was recorded there, which was actually colder than dry ice.

Re:One plus about the cold:

[idontgno]

Personal effects transportation limit is 1 cubic meter and 250 kg. I hope your OCable gaming rig is pretty compact. (Yes, even a tower system with all accouterments would fit, but that would be pretty close to all you could take.)

Read "Big Dead Place" before going

[Required Snark]

Check out the blog http://www.bigdeadplace.com/ before you go. The book of the same name is also a must read.

It's not just that being on the ice leads to crazy behavior, it's that the management is back in the US and they treat the workers like dirt. While they have picnics back in Kansas City. The NSF, which pays for it all, is equally brain dead. Here are some some "uncomfortable questions" from the blog.

The Supreme Court has ruled that Antarctica is "a foreign country". The IRS has emphasized recently that Antarctica is "not a foreign country". Does NSF consider Antarctica to be "a foreign country" or "not a foreign country"? Do American citizens legally have Constitutional rights in Antarctica? Does NSF voluntarily support the Constitutional rights of American citizens in Antarctica? What legal model is used by NSF to determine the rights of American citizens in Antarctica? Since NSF manages all facilities at the stations, which areas or facilities are considered "public" areas (guaranteed Constitutional protection)? If there are no "public" areas, then what policies does NSF have to ensure protection of "free speech" and "free press"? What policies does NSF have to keep its contractors from undermining these protections, if any? If there are no civil protections granted to Americans in Antarctica, are employees explicitly told this by NSF and its contractors?

Having pointed this all out, it also sounds like fun in a weird way, if you enjoy hanging with funny disfunctional drunks in a potentially lethal environment.

Re:Don't need to move to be cold

[Anonymous Coward]

There is not enough atomospheric pressure for it to turn into a liquid. It would go straight into a solid if it were cold enough. It would probably look like regular snow, which would make it a bit difficult to spot.

Re:Did They Mention?

[Hatta]

125 people, that's 62.5 couples. With 16,500 condoms, that's 264 condoms per couple per year. 264/365*7~= 3x per week. That's about right, maybe a little on the low side. Certainly not indicative of any captivity induced orgies.