Black Island...

Black Island is about 25 miles due south of McMurdo (78°7′S, 166°8′E) and is fairly easy to reach (if you have a helicopter). Otherwise it's a 7 hour drive over treacherous and bumpy frozen ice, travelling over McMurdo Sound. On a clear day, you can just see it as a tiny dot on the horizon from McMurdo. It's one of the most important facilities in the area though. Communications signals from McMurdo bounce off the satellite dish at Black Island and up to space, coming down at Brewster WA. This process is reversed for incoming communications. This includes phone, several types of radio, television, email, internet...the whole works. We are far enough north that we can "see" the correct communications satellites on the horizon, while the South Pole, which is 800 miles farther south, is out of these satellites' range. So when something goes wrong at Black Island, it takes us back to the old days in a hurry.
This article was written and published by my good friend Tom Hamann. For other articles by tom as well as his blog, please visit: www.bigblueglobe.blogspot.com