41. What is the population of McMurdo this time of year. What does the population demographic look like? Is it all scientists?
Tim,
Great Question! With an ever-changing answer 
I just got an email with the most up to date information as of today (1/5/11). With multiple flights going into and out of Christchurch and field camps, it is hard to keep up with the exact population and demographic information. But the ratios tend to stay about the same. There are more support people down here than scientists!
McMurdo Population: 995 people (the max we had on station was approximately 1200 people)
- Raytheon Employees (support staff — that includes me): 550 people
- NANA (Kitchen and Janitorial Staff): 106 people
- NSF Grantees (Scientists at McMurdo): 113 people staying and working at McMurdo!
- NSF Staff: 4 people
- The rest are air force, pilots, helo ops, runway personnel etc.
- MALE: 70.6%, FEMALE: 29.4%
South Pole Population: 221
- Raytheon: 145 people
- NANA: 17 people
- NSF Grantees: 55 people
Field Camps: 278 people (In 29 different field camps, including large camps WAIS, Byrd and CTAM). As you can see, there is a much large population of scientists in the field compared to the support staff.
- NSF Grantees: 177 people
- Raytheon: 64 people
- NANA: 13 people
