Residents carry a slaughtered pig with a bamboo pole as they walk home on a street, which was shut to traffic due to ice, in Leishan county, Guizhou province January 31, 2015. Blizzards and icy rain that lasted for several days at the end of January have disrupted traffic, collapsed houses and decimated crops in central Chinese provinces, Xinhua News Agency reported. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

This undated photo provided by NOAA in May 2018 shows aurora australis near the South Pole Atmospheric Research Observatory in Antarctica. When a hole in the ozone formed over Antarctica, countries around the world in 1987 agreed to phase out several types of ozone-depleting chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Production was banned, emissions fell and the hole shriveled. But according to a study released on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, scientists say since 2013, there’s more of a banned CFC going into the atmosphere. (Photo by Patrick Cullis/NOAA via AP Photo)

A runner takes part in the International World's coldest marathon at minus 53 degrees (–63.4 Fahrenheit) near Oymyakon, the republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia, Russian Far East, Saturday, January 22, 2022. Sixty five runners, including athletes from the United Arab Emirates, United States and Belarus, started the run at extremely low temperature in Oymyakon, Yakutia's Pole of Cold. The international team of men and women ran full distance and half-marathon. (Photo by Ivan Nikiforov/AP Photo)

Masked dancers perform a ritualistic dance at Kathmandu Durbar Square during the procession of erecting a sacred pole locally called “Ya: Shi”, marking the formal start of Indra Jatra dedicated to rain god Indra in Kathmandu, Nepal, on September 15, 2024. (Photo by Subaas Shrestha/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

James Castrission, “Cas” and Justin Jones “Jonesy” ski across an ice staking rink with two “You Can” patients on August 2, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. In 75 days, the Aussie adventure pair will attempt to cross 2,200 kilometres of Antarctic ice to the South Pole and back on foot to raise money for youth with cancer. The journey will require the two to trek with all the supplies for approximately three months of walking. Cas and Jonesy became the first to kayak unassisted over 3,300 kilometres from New Zealand to Australia in 2008. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Youths play a traditional pillow fight game on a bamboo pole during festivities marking the 69th anniversary of Myanmar Independence Day on the outskirts of Yangon on January 4, 2017. Various traditional and local events were held on the holiday which marks the 69th anniversary of the country known before as Burma when British colonial rule ended on January 4, 1948. (Photo by Ye Aung Thu/AFP Photo)

Urszula Sidoruk, 19, from the paramilitary group SJS Strzelec (Shooters Association), trains her workout at a gym in Siedlce, eastern Poland March 18, 2014. Inspired by the war in Ukraine, growing numbers of Poles are joining volunteer paramilitary groups, where they receive basic army training and prepare to defend their homeland. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research centre located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as the United States Antarctic science facility. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo.