McMurdo Station, view from Observation Hill, Antarctica by Zbigniew Malolepszy

NSF: McMurdo Station (77°51'S, 166°40'E), the main U.S. station in Antarctica, is a coastal station on the volcanic hills at the southern tip of Ross Island, about 3,864 km (2,415 miles) south of Christchurch, New Zealand, and 1,360 km (850 miles) north of the South Pole. The original station was built in 1955 to 1956 for the International Geophysical Year. Today's station is the primary logistics facility for supply of inland stations and remote field camps, and is also the waste management center for much of the U.S. Antarctic Program. Year-round and summer science projects are supported at McMurdo. Its summer population reaches 1100; the winter population of McTown is about 150.

The station has a harbor, landing strips on the sea ice and shelf ice, and a helicopter pad. The station's 85 or so buildings range in size from a small radio shack to large, three-story structures. Repair facilities, dormitories, administrative buildings, a firehouse, power plant, water distillation plant, wharf, stores, clubs, warehouses, a science support center, and the first-class, 4,320 square-meter Crary Lab are linked by above-ground water, sewer, telephone, and power lines.

The mean annual temperature is -18°C (0°F). Temperatures may reach 8°C (46°F) in summer and -50°C (-58°F) in winter. The average wind is 12 knots, but winds have exceeded 100 knots.

Panorama stitched out of 600 pictures taken with Canon SX10. Vigneting reduced before stitching with VR1.7 vignetting.republika.pl /
Post-processed in PhotoShop.

Stitcher notes:

GigaPan Stitcher version 1.0.0732 (Windows)
Panorama size: 3338 megapixels (104132 x 32064)
Input images: 600 (40 coluns by 15 rows)
Field of view: 100.6 degrees wide by 31.0 degrees high (top=3.1, bottom=-27.9)
Settings: use larger blending region
Original image properties:
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX10 IS
Image size: 3648 x 2736 (10.0 megapixels)
Capture time: 2010-01-25 14:14:32 – 2010-01-25 15:09:02
Aperture: f/5.7
Exposure time: 0.002
ISO: 80
Focal length (35 mm equiv.): 565.2 mm
White balance: Fixed
Exposure mode: Manual
Horizontal overlap: 17.3 to 49.5 percent
Vertical overlap: 19.8 to 47.4 percent
Computer stats: 1023.48 MB RAM. 2 CPUs
Total time 8:18:14 (50 seconds per picture)
Alignment: 6:03:23, Projection: 11:44, Blending: 2:03:08
(Preview finished in 6:39:32)