The combination of low atmospheric water vapor, high altitude, and low temperatures makes the South Pole and other high interior parts of the antarctic continent particularly suitable locations for certain types of infrared or millimeter-wave astronomy. We survey information available on the atmospheric column density of water at the South Pole and at Vostok, the Soviet station. To illustrate the usefulness of these areas for infrared astronomy, important astronomical lines in the wavelength

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... ion 50 to 200 |xm are listed. The atmospheric transmission in this wavelength region is also calculated and plotted for 0.1 mm and 0.3 mm of précipitable water along the line of sight through the atmosphere. Such low values of précipitable water occur frequently enough to allow practical astronomical observations from the ground and, for certain cases, this can provide advantages over observations from high-flying aircraft or satellites.