https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Pole_Station
Things that my attention was drawn to:
The original site (for IGY) was built by a team led by a Lieutenant JG (one of the lowest officer ranks) of US Navy. That was a really interesting job (https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/36750/Bowers_Transcript.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y) for the fellow.
The description of the base when it was mostly within a dome reminds me vividly of places I read about in interactive fiction. Such places seemed to me to be somewhat... unrealistic? (see e.g. the tower that was used for atmospheric observations "and later contained a music room"), but apparently my intuition was very wrong.
The new station is on *adjustable* stilts, so that it can be raised as the snow level rises (well, not really "rises", but as the ground sinks while more snow gets accumulated).
