South Pole

Coordinates: 90°S 0°W / 90°S -0°E / -90; -0

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole.

Situated on the continent of Antarctica, it is the site of the United States Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, which was established in 1956 and has been permanently staffed since that year. The Geographic South Pole should not be confused with the South Magnetic Pole, which is defined based on the Earth's magnetic field.

Geography

For most purposes, the Geographic South Pole is defined as the southern point of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface (the other being the Geographic North Pole). However, the Earth's axis of rotation is actually subject to very small "wobbles" (polar motion), so this definition is not adequate for very precise work.

Southpole (clothing)

Southpole is an American clothing label based in Fort Lee, New Jersey. It is owned by David Khym.

History

The company was founded by brothers David and Kenny Khym, two Korean natives from a family of five children who immigrated to the United States from Incheon in 1977. In 1981, David used $10,000 in savings and a $5,000 line of credit to establish a retail clothing store in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. He hired Kenny to work at the store, and in 1989 they relocated to Jamaica, Queens after their landlord for the Brownsville location raised their rent.

The Khyms had trouble keeping the baggy urban fashions popular at the Jamaica location in stock, so in 1991 they established a wholesale company called Wicked Fashions to import clothes from Pakistan. David Khym named the new clothing label Southpole in honor of a team of Korean explorers who had recently become the first from that country to reach the South Pole. Southpole succeeded by providing styles similar to those of other popular urban labels such as FUBU, but at a much lower cost. In 1996, Kenny left in order to found his own business, Against All Odds, a chain of mall-based retail stores focusing on hip-hop fashion.

South Pole (disambiguation)

South Pole may refer to:

Terrestrial, celestial and planetary South Poles

Physics

Other

Lunar south pole

The lunar south pole is of special interest to scientists because of the postulated occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas around it. Of the lunar poles, the south pole is of greater interest because the area that remains in shadow is much larger than that at the north pole. The lunar south pole craters are unique in that sunlight does not reach the bottom. Such craters are cold traps that contain a fossil record of the early solar system.

Craters

The rotational axis of the Moon lies within Shackleton Crater. Notable craters nearest to the lunar south pole include De Gerlache, Sverdrup, Shoemaker, Faustini, Haworth, Nobile and Cabeus.

Exploration

Spacecraft from several countries have explored the region around the lunar south pole. Extensive studies were conducted by the Lunar Orbiter, Clementine, Lunar Prospector, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Kaguya, and Chandrayaan. NASA's LCROSS mission found a significant amount of water in Cabeus.

Future

Future planned exploration of the Lunar south polar region includes a private mission by Shackleton Energy Company, no earlier than 2016. Shackleton intends to land a robotic precursor exploration rover to "identify and characterize the nature, composition and locations of the optimum ice concentrations at the north and Lunar south pole craters".