The main and largest station in Antarctica. Polar station "Vostok", Antarctica: description, history, climate and visiting rules. History of the development of the mainland. Russian Antarctica

The least explored and most inhospitable continent on Earth is Antarctica. The population of the continent ranges from 1 to 4 thousand people. Read about the main features, history of development and inhabitants of the “ice” continent in our article.

Antarctica: general information about the continent and its resources

Almost everyone knows that this continent is the coldest on the planet. It was on its territory (at the Russian polar station “Vostok”) that the air temperature in the world was recorded - 89.2 degrees with a minus sign.

But few people know about other Antarctic records. Thus, the continent is also the driest, highest and windiest on Earth. Indeed, it was the lack of drinking water that was the main problem for everyone who decided to conquer the vastness of the continent called Antarctica. The population of the mainland also has its own characteristics. However, this will be discussed later.

It should be noted that Antarctica and its natural resources do not belong to any of the modern states in the world. Although in past centuries many empires tried to establish their control over one or another part of the continent. In 1991, the world community officially approved a special Protocol, one of the articles of which prohibits any economic activity on the territory of Antarctica (in particular, the development of its rich subsoil). True, the inhabitants of the planet are already very acutely aware of the shortage of many mineral resources. Therefore, it is unknown how long this protocol will remain in effect.

Antarctica: population of the continent and its characteristics

Seals, Arctic terns, skuas and emperor penguins are the most typical inhabitants of the cold continent. Before the beginning of the 19th century, geographers could have easily read out this list of animals when answering the question: “Who lives in Antarctica?” However, in 1820, everything changed dramatically: a person set foot on the continent for the first time.

Who lives in Antarctica today? And what is its total population?

It’s worth mentioning right away that Antarctica has no permanent population due to too extreme weather and climatic conditions. This means that the mainland is inhabited only by scientists, service personnel and tourists. They are all here temporarily.

How many people does Antarctica attract? The continent's population is about a thousand people in the winter. In summer its population can reach 4,000 people. On the mainland, the most popular languages are English, French, Russian and Spanish.

In 1978, the first human child was born here. It was Argentinean citizen Emilio Marcos Palma. But in 2007, the first wedding ceremony in history took place in Antarctica.

History of the development of the mainland. Russian Antarctica

The history of Russian exploration of the mainland began back in 1819, when an expedition led by Lazarev and Bellingshausen set off from Kronstadt to the south. It was she who opened the sixth continent to the world. The Russian Empire showed great interest in Antarctica at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, organizing several serious scientific expeditions.

In 1946, as some historians suggest, a serious military battle for Antarctica took place. After the end of World War II, the then allies - the USA and the USSR - sent powerful military squadrons to the shores of the continent. As a result, the American expedition returned far from being at full strength. However, the details of this Antarctic battle are still shrouded in a lot of mystery and speculation.

Russian Antarctic stations

Today, 30 countries have their own scientific stations in Antarctica. Among them is Russia, which has seven such bases on the mainland. These are the stations “Vostok”, “Progress”, “Bellingshausen”, “Novolazarevskaya”, “Molodezhnaya”, “Mirny” and “Leningradskaya”. Each of them is interesting in its own way.

Thus, at the Vostok station in 1983, an absolute record for the lowest temperature on Earth was recorded. This is one of the harshest (in terms of weather) places on our planet. Recently, the “Pole of Cold” was decorated with a monument to Lenin - the southernmost in the world.

At another Russian station, Bellingshausen, the first Orthodox church on the mainland was built in 2004. But “Novolazarevskaya” boasts the only Russian bathhouse on the entire continent!

But the main center of Russian Antarctica today is the Progress station. It performs research, administrative and logistics functions. An excellent sports complex for polar explorers was created here with a sauna, medical equipment and various exercise equipment.

Antarctic Research Station "Vostok"

Earth's Pole of Cold
(from the series "On the outskirts of the planet")

Vostok station- Russian Antarctic research station, the only one currently used by Russia inside the continent. Named after the sailing sloop "Vostok", one of the ships of the Antarctic expedition of 1819-1821. As a unique research station, it was founded on December 16, 1957 during the 2nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition. For a long time, V.S. Sidorov was the head of the station.

The climatic conditions in the station area are among the harshest on Earth. They are characterized by very severe frosts throughout the year. The lowest temperature on the planet of all meteorological stations in the 20th century was recorded here: -89.2 degrees C (July 21, 1983). The warmest summer day at Vostok station during its entire existence remains the day of December 16, 1957. Then the thermometer recorded 13.6 degrees below zero. The area was called the Earth's Pole of Cold. The thickness of the ice cover under the station is 3700 m.

Severe frosts contribute to almost zero air humidity in the station area. The average annual wind speed is about 5 m/s, the maximum is 27 m/s (almost 100 km/h). The altitude of Vostok is 3488 meters above sea level, which causes an acute lack of oxygen. Due to the low air temperature in the station area, its pressure drops faster with altitude than in mid-latitudes, and it is calculated that the oxygen content in the atmosphere in the station area is equivalent to an altitude of five thousand meters. Air ionization is greatly increased. The partial pressure of gases also differs from that in the air we are used to. And the acute lack of carbon dioxide in the air in these places leads to disruptions in the breathing regulation mechanism.

The polar night lasts from April 23 to August 20, 120 days a year, which is just under 4 months, or a third of the entire year. Only two months a year the average monthly air temperature exceeds -40 degrees C and four months - -60 degrees C. From March to October there are severe frosts, and only in November do relatively comfortable conditions begin.

Acclimatization to such conditions lasts from one week to one to two months and is accompanied by dizziness and flickering in the eyes, pain in the ears and nosebleeds, a feeling of suffocation and a sharp increase in blood pressure, loss of sleep and loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, pain in the joints and muscles , weight loss from three to five (cases up to 12 are known) kilograms.

The average temperature of the warmest months, December and January, is -35.1 and -35.5 degrees C respectively, which is equivalent to a cold Siberian winter. The average temperature of the coldest month, August, is -75.3 degrees Celsius, sometimes falling below -88.3 degrees Celsius. For comparison: January 1892 in Verkhoyansk (the coldest on record in Russia) had an average temperature of -57.1 degrees C. The coldest daily maximum temperature is -52 degrees C; in May, the temperature during the entire measurement period did not rise above -41.6 degrees C. There is practically no precipitation here. The average annual precipitation is only about 18 mm.

The Vostok research station is located 1253 km from the South Pole, 1410 km from the Mirny station and 1260 km from the nearest sea coast. It is almost impossible to get to the station in winter, which means polar explorers cannot count on outside help. Delivery of goods to the station is carried out by plane (in the summer, relatively warm period) and by sleigh-caterpillar train (at other times) from the Mirny station. Vladimir Sanin described in detail the difficulties of delivering cargo in this way in his books “Newcomer in Antarctica” and “72 degrees below zero.”

"Vostok" is located near the South geomagnetic pole of the Earth and is one of the most suitable places for studying changes in the Earth's magnetic field. Usually there are 40 people at the station in the summer - scientists and engineers. In winter, their number is reduced to 20. For more than forty years, Russian specialists have been conducting research here on hydrocarbon and mineral raw materials, drinking water reserves; carry out aero-meteorological, actinometric, geophysical and glaciological observations, as well as special medical research; are engaged in studying climate change, researching the “ozone hole”, the problems of rising water levels in the World Ocean, etc. Here in the mid-1990s, as a result of drilling glacial deposits (first with thermal drilling projectiles, and then with electromechanical projectiles on a load-carrying cable), it was discovered unique relict Lake Vostok (the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica). The lake is located under an ice sheet about 4000 m thick and has dimensions of approximately 250x50 km. The estimated area is 15.5 thousand sq. km. Depth more than 1200 m.

On the night of April 13, 1982, as a result of a fire, the main and backup diesel generators completely failed, and the station remained without power. 20 people spent a heroic winter for 8 months, keeping warm with homemade potbelly stoves running on diesel fuel, until a sleigh-caterpillar train with a new diesel-electric installation arrived from Mirny. Interestingly, the station is located at approximately the same distance from the equator as the cities of Longyearbyen and Barentsburg on Spitsbergen in the Northern Hemisphere, where the absolute minimum temperature is only -46.3 degrees C, the absolute maximum is +17.5 degrees C, and average annual temperature -14.4 degrees C. This difference is created by the special climate of Antarctica.

The legendary Russian polar station “Vostok” in Antarctica was created in 1957. It is located in the center of the continent, among ice and snow. Just like 59 years ago, today it is a kind of symbol of the pole of inaccessibility.

The distance from the station to the South Pole is less than to the sea coast, and the population of the station does not exceed 25 people. Low temperatures, an altitude of more than three kilometers above sea level, and complete isolation from the world in winter make it one of the most inconvenient places on Earth for a person to stay. Despite the most difficult conditions, life in the “East” does not stop even at -80 °C. Scientists are studying a unique subglacial lake, which is located at a depth of more than four kilometers.

Location

The Vostok scientific station (Antarctica) is located 1253 km from the South Pole and 1260 km from the sea coast. The ice cover here reaches a thickness of 3,700 m. In winter, it is impossible to reach the station, so polar explorers have to rely only on their own strength. In summer, cargo is delivered here by plane. A sleigh-caterpillar train from the Progress station is also used for the same purpose. Previously, such trains also came from the Mirny station, but today, due to the increase in hummocks along the train route, this has become impossible.

The Vostok polar station is located near the South geomagnetic pole of our planet. This makes it possible to study changes in the Earth's magnetic field. In the summer, there are about forty people at the station - engineers and scientists.

Vostok station: history, climate

This unique scientific center was built in 1957 for research and observation of the Antarctic ecosystem. Since its founding, the Russian Vostok station in Antarctica has never stopped operating, and its activities continue to this day. Scientists are very interested in the relict subglacial lake. In the mid-nineties, unique drilling of glacial deposits was carried out at the station. First, thermal drills were used, and then electromechanical ones on a load-carrying cable.

Drilling teams from the AARI and the Leningrad Mining Institute jointly discovered the unique underground lake “Vostok”. It is hidden by an ice sheet more than four thousand meters thick. Its dimensions are presumably 250x50 kilometers. Depth more than 1200 meters. Its area exceeds 15.5 thousand square kilometers.

New projects are now being developed to survey this deep lake. “Vostok” is a station in Antarctica that took part in the targeted federal program “World Ocean”. In addition, scientists are studying human life in such extreme conditions.

Climate

The Vostok polar station is famous for its harsh conditions. The climate of this place can be briefly described - there is no colder place on Earth. The absolute minimum temperature recorded here is 89 °C. Average temperatures throughout the year range from -31 °C and - 68 °C, to the absolute maximum, which was recorded back in 1957 - -13 °C. The Polar Night lasts 120 days - from the end of April to the end of August.

The warmest months at the station are December and January. At this time the air temperature is -35.1 °C -35.5 °C. This temperature is comparable to the cold Siberian winter. The coldest month is August. The air temperature drops to -75.3 °C, and sometimes even lower than -88.3 °C. The coldest maximum (daily) is -52 °C; during the entire period of observations in May, the temperature does not rise above -41.6 °C. But low temperatures are not the main climatic problem and difficulty for polar explorers.

The Vostok station (Antarctica) is located in an area with almost zero air humidity. There is a lack of oxygen here. The station is located at an altitude of more than three thousand meters above sea level. In such difficult conditions, human acclimatization lasts from a week to two months. This process is usually accompanied by flickering in the eyes, dizziness, nosebleeds, ear pain, a feeling of suffocation, increased blood pressure, sleep disturbances, loss of appetite, nausea, severe muscle and joint pain, and weight loss of up to five kilograms.

Scientific activity

“Vostok” is a station in Antarctica, whose specialists have been conducting research on mineral and hydrocarbon raw materials, drinking water reserves, and conducting actinometric, aero-meteorological, glaciological and geophysical observations for more than half a century. In addition, they conduct medical research, study climate change, conduct research on the ozone hole, etc.

Life at the station

“Vostok” is a station in Antarctica where special people live and work. They are endlessly devoted to their work, they are interested in exploring this mysterious continent. This obsession, in the best sense of the word, allows them to endure all the hardships of life and long separation from loved ones. Only the most desperate extreme sports enthusiasts can envy the lives of polar explorers.

Vostok station (Antarctica) has many features. For example, in ordinary life we are surrounded by some insects - butterflies, mosquitoes, midges. There is nothing at the station. There are not even microorganisms. The water here comes from melted snow. It contains neither minerals nor salts, so at first the station workers experience constant thirst.

We have already mentioned that researchers have been drilling a well to the mysterious Lake Vostok for a long time. In 2011, at a depth of 3540 meters, new ice was discovered, which had frozen from below. This is frozen lake water. Polar explorers claim that it is pure and very pleasant to the taste; it can be boiled and made tea.

The building where the polar explorers live is covered in a two-meter layer of snow. There is no daylight inside. There are two exits leading outside - the main one and the spare one. The main exit is a door behind which a fifty-meter tunnel is dug in the snow. The emergency exit is much shorter. It consists of a steep staircase leading to the roof of the station.

The residential building has a mess room, a TV hanging on the wall (although there is no terrestrial television at the station), and a billiard table. When the temperature in this room drops to sub-zero, everyone tries not to go there. But one day, polar explorers discovered a faulty game console in a warehouse. It was repaired, connected to a TV, and the wardroom came to life - now polar explorers gather here. Wearing warm jackets and trousers, felt boots and hats, they come to play fist fights and races.

Polar explorers note that in recent years the Vostok station (Antarctica) has changed in terms of everyday life. A warm residential module, dining rooms, a diesel unit and other buildings necessary for the life of the station made life here quite acceptable.

Fire at Vostok station in Antarctica

On April 12, 1982, Vostok did not contact the mainland. No one could have guessed what happened. A day, according to schedule, the station contacted nine times. When there was no connection even at the second agreed hour, it became clear that something extraordinary had happened. Lack of communication is an emergency in any case. No one could have foreseen the extent of the trouble at the station at that time.

The Vostok station (Antarctica) had a separate room where a diesel-electric station was located. There the fire started on the night of March 12. This was the very beginning of winter. There was a small house attached to the power plant where the mechanics lived. They were awakened at four in the morning by the acrid smell of smoke.

When they went outside, they discovered that the fire was blazing on the roof. A couple of minutes later, all the winterers, hastily dressed, ran out into the cold. The spotlight that illuminated the area went out. The only light was from the fire.

Fighting fire

They began to throw snow at the fire, then they tried to cover it with a tarpaulin to prevent the access of oxygen. But the tarpaulin ignited instantly. The people who climbed onto the roof soon had to jump down. The roof burned completely in thirty minutes.

Fifteen meters from the station there were tanks with diesel fuel. It was impossible to pull them away - they were too heavy. Fortunately, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. It also helped that the diesel fuel was too cold; in the cold it became viscous. It had to get very hot to ignite.

The polar explorers did not immediately notice that there was not one mechanic among them. His remains were found in the ashes. Immediately after the fire, the station premises were left without heat and light, and it was -67 °C outside...

How to survive?

A real disaster has happened. Two diesel generators that supplied electricity to the station and two backup ones were completely out of order. There was no light in the rooms, scientific instruments were de-energized, the batteries and the stove in the galley were cooling down. There was even a problem with water - it was obtained from snow in an electric melter. An old kerosene stove was found in the utility room. She was transferred to one of the residential barracks.

Meanwhile, Moscow was frantically looking for a way out of the current situation. They consulted with pilots and sailors. But none of the options could be implemented in the harsh polar night.

Life after the fire

The polar explorers decided to survive on their own. The courageous guys did not wait for help from the mainland. A radiogram was sent to Moscow: “We will survive until spring.” They understood perfectly well that the icy continent does not forgive mistakes, but it is also merciless towards those who fall into despair.

Wintering continued under force majeure conditions. The polar explorers moved into one tiny living space. Five new stoves were made using gas cylinders. In this room, which was a bedroom, a dining room, and a kitchen, there were also scientific instruments.

The main disadvantage of the new furnaces was soot. It was collected in a bucket a day. After some time, thanks to the ingenuity of the aerologist and the cook, the winterers were able to bake bread. They glued portions of the dough to the walls of the oven and thus obtained completely edible bread.

In addition to hot food and warmth, light was needed. And then these strong people began to make candles, using the existing paraffin and asbestos cord. The “Candle Factory” worked until the end of winter.

Work continues!

Despite the incredible conditions, polar explorers increasingly began to think about continuing their scientific activities. But this was due to a huge shortage of electricity. The only surviving engine satisfied only the needs of radio communications and electric welding. They were simply “afraid to breathe” on him.

However, the meteorologist only interrupted his weather observations during the fire. After the tragedy, he worked as usual. Looking at him, the magnetologist also resumed his work.

The rescue

This is how the winter passed - without sunlight, with a lack of oxygen, with enormous everyday inconveniences. But these people survived, which in itself is a feat. They have not lost their composure and “taste” for work. They held out for 7.5 months, as promised to the Moscow curators, in extreme circumstances.

At the beginning of November, an Il-14 plane arrived at the station, which delivered a new generator and four new winterers from the next, 28th expedition. There was also a doctor among the passengers on the long-awaited plane. According to him, he expected to see demoralized and exhausted people at the station. However, these guys were fine.

And fifteen days later a sleigh and tractor train arrived from Mirny. He delivered building materials and products, as well as everything for the construction of the power plant. After that, time at the station went faster: everyone was trying to make up for the accumulated “debts” on scientific research.

When the shift arrived, the courageous polar explorers were sent by plane to Mirny. The remains of the deceased were also delivered on the same board. He was buried at the Antarctic "Novodevichy" cemetery. The rest of the polar explorers boarded the motor ship "Bashkiria", which took them to Leningrad. Today they are all alive and well, and some of them managed to take part in the Antarctic expedition once again during this time.

Vostok station: visiting rules

Tourists, as well as trained travelers, are not invited to the station - this is exclusively a scientific center. Nevertheless, it is still possible to visit the “East”. To do this, those interested must contact the Institute and convincingly prove why the station needs them. The minimum requirements for applicants are good health and many useful skills.

In this section we will digress a little from the topic of Antarctic military secrets. But let's not stray too far from them. Why? After all, outwardly completely peaceful Antarctic stations always kept many military secrets in their safes, some of which were directly related to the existence of the Nazi bases Horst Wessel and New Swabia. However, judge for yourself!

Post-war historians tried not to mention the existence of the Land of New Swabia once again. It is not surprising that in this century few people believe in its existence. Meanwhile, back in the last century, some information about it leaked into the Soviet press.

In 1955, several countries around the world began to organize scientific research expeditionary bases in West Antarctica. They were placed on the coast, usually far from each other; a relatively large “cluster” of stations from several countries was located only on Graham Land. Ten years later, a two-volume major work, “Atlas of the Antarctic,” was published in our country.

It contained hundreds of detailed maps, graphs, diagrams, and scientific articles, by reading which one could obtain interesting information about the relief, geological structure, continental glaciation and sea ice, climate, geophysical phenomena, vegetation and fauna of the mysterious Sixth Continent. One of the maps was dedicated to the International Geophysical Year (IGY), which began in the late autumn of 1957 and ended in the early spring of 1959.

Then, under a single program, numerous international expeditions from Argentina and Australia, Belgium and Great Britain, New Zealand and Norway, the USSR and the USA, France and Chile, South Africa and Japan began a detailed study of the icy continent for the first time since the end of World War II. Later Poland and Czechoslovakia joined them. This map showed 42 scientific stations belonging to 12 countries. But was this program really unified? Externally - yes! But there were also some very interesting differences.

In the 1930s, especially in connection with the International Polar Year (1932-1933), many interested countries began exploring the coastline of the Antarctic ice sheet and especially in the most accessible part of the continent, Graham Land, where they began permanent work immediately several weather stations.

As a result of their research, the first reliable maps of the coast of Antarctica appeared on a scale of 1:2,000,000, but two-thirds of the south polar land remained blank spots. For a long time, Antarctica remained a no-man's continent. But immediately after the end of World War II, it became of interest to many countries of the world, including those completely far from the Antarctic shores. Why?

Unexpectedly for everyone, the Americans declared Antarctica a “treasure box.” And what minerals: coal, gold, silver, lead, iron, and most importantly, uranium! Moreover, it was recognized that the West Antarctic folded region was considered as a continuation of the metallogenic belt of the Andes with copper, molybdenum, tungsten, tin. When did they manage to conduct deep geological exploration? T

only in pre-war times! Beginning in the fall of 1948, the United States of America, Great Britain, France, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Chile, as if by an unknown command, began vying with each other to declare their claims to certain areas of Antarctica.

The leadership of the USSR, which closely monitored the facts of foreign penetration into the Antarctic deserts, again became seriously worried. In February 1949, a general meeting of members of the All-Union Geographical Society was held in Leningrad, where the president of the society, L. Berg, presented a report “Russian discoveries in Antarctica and modern interest in it.” The resolution of this meeting stated that “any solution to the question of the Antarctic regime without the participation of the Soviet Union cannot have legal force, and the USSR has every reason not to recognize any such decision.”

On June 7, 1950, the Soviet government sent memoranda to the above countries on the issue of the Antarctic regime. It was also indicated here that the Soviet Union is equally attentive to Antarctica also because this continent and the adjacent islands are a convenient base for the most important meteorological observations, which are of extreme importance for the Northern Hemisphere. Most likely there were other reasons for this. Which? Apparently, we will not know about everyone soon. But we’ve already met something!

For example, in 1974, Soviet geologists discovered in the Antarctic Yamato Mountains (a series of large massifs bordered by vast fields of glacial boulders) unique minerals - charnockites, which indicate that in the very distant past there was a single continent of Gondwanaland somewhere here. Similar charnockites had previously been found only in India.

But let's return to the Antarctic Peninsula.

The closest post-war polar stations to the Horst Wessel anthractic base were: the British Detail Island, Stonington Island, Horseshoe Island, Feryn Head and Rothera, and the Argentine General San Martin. I would like to consider the history of each of them in as much detail as possible, but all the information currently available had to be limited to data about the Argentine base “General San Martin”. The British bases Stonington Island (Base E) and Feryn Head (Base J) were closed in 1958. And, here’s information about the British bases “Detail Island” (Base W), “Horseshoe Island” (Base V) and “Rothera” remained closed.

The closest to “New Swabia” were: the Soviet “Lazarev”, the British “Hally Bay” and “Shackleton”, the Norwegian-South African “Norway”, the Norwegian-Swedish-British “Modheim”, the Argentine “General Belgrano” and “Ellsworth” , Belgian “King Baudouin”, Japanese “Showa”, West German “Georg von Neumaer”, East German “Georg Forster”, Indian “Dakshin Gangotri”, South African “Sanae”.

On March 10, 1959, the Soviet polar station “Lazarev” was opened on the ice shelf near Cape Sedov (Princess Astrid Coast). The Belgian station "King Baudouin" was created next to it. Both stations seemed to adjoin the right side of the New Swabia Land. From the Lazarev station, Soviet geologists under the leadership of M. Ravich for the first time explored the central and eastern parts of the mountains of Queen Maud Land.

In 1961, the Soviet polar station "Lazarev" was abandoned by Soviet scientists, and its inhabitants moved to solid ground... to the Schirmacher oasis. The new station was named “Novolazarevskaya”. At the same time, it was in the Novolazarevskaya area that deep seismic soundings were carried out for the first time in the history of Antarctic exploration. Soviet polar explorers had at their disposal aerial photographs of this oasis, taken by Nazi pilots in 1939.

The British base "Hally Bay" (Base Z) fully corresponded to its letter designation: it was not possible to find anything about its creation and activities.

According to official documents, the British Shackleton base was established in January 1956 on the Weddell Sea coast at coordinates 77 degrees 59 minutes south latitude and 37 degrees 09 minutes west longitude, but was abandoned in January 1958. Valuable equipment and instruments were dismantled and transferred to Hally Bay station. The reasons that prompted the British to urgently close the station could not be established. But it was from here that British Antarctic explorer Vivian Fuchs planned to begin his transcontinental trek to the South Pole in November 1957.

This research station was a failure from the very beginning. The ship that delivered cargo for the station here left the contents of its holds on the sea ice due to the approaching storm. The storm that broke out destroyed a significant part of the building materials, coal, fuel, and one of the tractors. Chemicals for hydrogen production were lost, as a result of which British scientists at the station could not conduct aerological observations. Only a year later it was possible to bring everything necessary to the station.

The Norwegian-South African “Norway”, considered a British scientific station, was created in January 1957 at coordinates 70 degrees 30 minutes south latitude and 37 degrees 48 minutes west longitude.

The Norwegian-Swedish-British "Modheim" operated from 1950 to 1952.

The Argentine base "General Belgrano" was established in early 1956 on the Weddell Sea at coordinates 77 degrees 58 minutes south latitude and 37 degrees 48 minutes west longitude.

US Base Ellsworth (the seventh US station) was established on February 11, 1957, on the shores of the Weddell Sea east of Golden Bay, on the edge of the Filchner Ice Shelf, at latitude 76 degrees south and longitude 41 degrees 07 minutes west. Initially, it was planned to build it at the extreme southwestern point of the Weddell Sea, at the base of Graham Land, or more precisely, in the area of Cape Adam. Until that time, not a single ship or vessel had penetrated here. But then this decision was revised. The glacier on which the station was built was afloat. The construction of the station was standard.

Typically, such stations had up to 20 residential and storage buildings.

They were designed for the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, where they were tested. These are typical shield-type houses. Each shield is approximately 2 meters long and 110 centimeters wide. They were fastened with special wedge-shaped closures. The roof of the house was flat and supported by light metal rafters. The inside of the residential houses was lined with thin metal sheets reminiscent of aluminum.

Each house had up to five rooms. Its layout depends on the need, because the partitions are thin five-millimeter plywood sheets, and the arrangement can be changed as desired. Moreover, between the two rooms there is something like a wardroom, where there is a table, two metal sofas and lamps on long legs. The furnishings in the rooms are quite simple: two beds with spring nets and microporous rubber mattresses, two metal wardrobes, two bedside tables and several chairs.

Each such house has two exits - one main and one spare. The main exits of each house lead into a tunnel that connects all the houses and runs along the entire village.

Service buildings are exactly the same, but they do not have partitions and, of course, furniture.

39 people remained at the station, including 10 scientists, the rest were American sailors. The famous polar explorer Finn Rone was left as the head of the Ellsworth station. After the end of the International Geophysical Year, the Elsworth station was transferred to the Argentines.

The Belgian station "King Baudouin" was established on the Princess Ranhilda Coast ice shelf near the Soviet Antarctic station "Lazarev".

The Japanese Showa station was established in the mid-1950s at coordinates 69 degrees 00 minutes south latitude and 39 degrees 35 minutes east longitude. Three American-style panel-type residential buildings were assembled here. In the fourth room there were two electric generators. In 1974, 18 polar explorers spent the winter at this Antarctic station, established on Ongul Island (Lützow-Holm Bay, Prinz Olav Coast). The Japanese built their station at the very edge of Queen Maud Land.

It was separated from the nearest Soviet station “Molodezhnaya” by only 300 kilometers, and from “Novolazarevskaya” - almost 1,000 kilometers. On the ledges of the rocky cliffs of Ongul Island, barrels and various equipment were stacked, cars were parked, and a little further, in the depths, bright red houses could be seen. During the winter, large snow drifts formed around the houses. The polar explorers were replaced by the icebreakers Soya and Fuji.

From Showa Station to the aforementioned Yamato Mountains it is about 300 kilometers. But the Japanese were frequent visitors to the mountain range, named after their beloved Motherland. True, at first, they had to fly over the coastal nunataks deep into the Ayuttzow-Holm Bay. Then, turning south, “crawl onto the dome,” or, more simply, fly along the ice dome over the Antarctic desert. In good weather this was not a problem, but Antarctica has never been known for its quiet and calm character. And yet Japanese polar explorers constantly flew there.

The West German base "Georg von Neumayer" and the East German base "Georg Forster" were most likely created as a kind of counterbalance to each other.

The Indian scientific station "Dakshin Gangotri" was created in 1983-1984 in the Schirmacher oasis, 18 kilometers from the "Novolazarevskaya" station.

South African "Sanae". According to the map of Antarctica, which was carried out in 1955 on board the whaling mother ship Slava, it was created near the northwestern side of the New Schwabeland 1 ice shelf.

The Soviet side was always surprised by the distribution of scientific stations in Great Britain, Argentina, Chile and the USA on the Antarctic Peninsula (aka Graeme Land). In fact, they were located “on each other’s heads,” but then we had no idea that our recent allies in World War II knew about the dead cities of extraterrestrial civilization and the Antarctic Nazi bases.

The first Soviet scientific stations in Antarctica were created in 1955 by our polar explorers during the International Geophysical Year. Then the Complex Antarctic Expedition (CAE) of the USSR Academy of Sciences, consisting of several scientific teams, arrived in Antarctica to carry out scientific work. Its marine group had six detachments: aerometeorological, hydrological, hydrochemical, marine geology, hydrobiological and hydrographic.

And the coastal group includes four scientific teams: aerometeorological, geological-geographical, complex geophysical and aerial photography. It was the polar explorers of the AE who assigned the first two Antarctic stations the names of the ships of Thaddeus Bellingshausen, and the third - “Sovetskaya”.

Three ships were allocated to the expedition. Diesel-electric ships of 12.5 thousand tons each - “Ob” and “Lena”. The first of these icebreaking ships was used for oceanographic research, the second - as a transport. The third was a small 500-ton ship, Refrigerator No. 7, which was mainly used to deliver perishable goods. Soviet polar explorers had an aviation detachment: one Il-12 aircraft, two Li-2 aircraft, one An-2 light aircraft and two Mi-4 helicopters. And also a detachment of ground transport: ATT-15 tractors and S-80 bulldozers, Gas-47 light all-terrain vehicles and various types of vehicles. There were up to 50 sled dogs.

All Soviet stations were created in the sector allocated to us by the Special Committee of the International Geophysical Year. They were constructed from materials delivered on board diesel-electric ships. When choosing specific locations for scientific stations, they were guided mainly by considerations of convenience of approaches from the sea, the possibility of unloading ships and the desire to place an observatory and a residential settlement on a rocky surface, which is not so abundant on the coast of Antarctica, or, in extreme cases, on an area of stationary continental ice.

At the same time, the houses and warehouses were located in such a way that the prevailing winds blew along the front door. For the first wintering in Mirny, 92 polar explorers remained, led by the head of the AEC, Mikhail Somov. Already this wintering showed that those who designed future residential and storage facilities for polar explorers made a serious mistake. They relied on the fact that in Antarctica precipitation falls only in the form of snow, and did not take into account that it also rains.

The rains that fell in the summer of 1957 forced Soviet polar explorers to experience for themselves what a leaking roof means. But more than one traveler who has been here has written about Antarctic rains. But such is the Russian character: until you experience it, you won’t understand. Only after residential buildings became uncomfortable and damp were houses with gable roofs built.

At the same time, the first inland station was built on the high-mountain Antarctic plateau - “Pionerskaya”. The construction of this station, as well as the creation of a station in the Banger oasis, was not initially included in the plans of the AEC, but already during the expedition it was decided to deploy these two scientific stations. Officially, to get a broader idea of the nature of the sixth continent.

Probably yes! But, I would like to draw attention to the fact that in their location these stations are close to “New Swabia” and the Central Woltath mountains. Only Soviet stations are located near the Davis Sea, and Nazi stations are located near the Addell Sea. Moreover, to the west of Mirny, during aerial reconnaissance, an island was discovered that was extremely similar in shape to Drigalsky Island. Are these coincidences random? Unfortunately, no one has yet clearly answered this question.

To create our station, we used the premises available on the sleigh of the tractor train, and building material delivered from Mirny by plane. At the same time, the sleigh was moved so that the auxiliary rooms protected the housing from the wind. A space was created between the sleds, which was quickly turned into a connecting vestibule, with the help of which one could easily get into any room of the station. Due to difficulties with the delivery of fuel, it was decided that only four people, led by Alexander Gusev, would remain here for the winter.

In the mid-1970s, over two dozen scientific stations operated in Antarctica, six of them belonged to the Soviet Union. Five Soviet stations were located on the coast of the Antarctic seas (Mirny, Molodezhnaya, Novolazarevskaya, Leningradskaya, Bellingshausen) and one in the central part of the continent, in the region of the geomagnetic pole, 1410 kilometers from Mirny ( "East").

The first Comprehensive Antarctic Expedition of the Soviet Union (CAE) took place in 1955-1956. Behind it, in 1956-1958, were the second and third, respectively. Subsequently, all Antarctic expeditions began to be called SAE, that is, Soviet Antarctic expeditions.

The Soviet study area was adjacent to the Indian Ocean on both sides of the Davis Sea, in Queen Mary Land. The mainland group of the Soviet scientific expedition under the leadership of Mikhail Somov, consisting of 70 people of various specialties, landed on the shore of the Davis Sea, west of the Helen Glacier. By the beginning of the winter of 1955-1956, with the help of the crews of two Soviet diesel-electric ships “Ob” and “Lena”, she built the village of Mirny, which in those days consisted of several residential and service buildings, illuminated and heated by electricity; In addition to the power plant, there was a mechanical workshop, garages, hangars and warehouses. The mainland group was divided into six special units. The air squad under the command of Ivan Cherevichny began work with five aircraft and two helicopters.

In addition to the main base, the village of Mirny, by the end of 1956, two of our stations were organized: Pionerskaya (375 kilometers from Mirny at an altitude of 2,700 meters) began work on May 27, 1956; Oasis station began operation on October 15, 1956 (360 kilometers east of Mirny, in the Banger Hills oasis). In January 1959, the latter was transferred to the Polish Academy of Sciences and renamed in honor of A. Dobrovolsky, a Polish scientist, participant in the Belgian Antarctic expedition of 1897-1899.

The second Soviet Antarctic expedition, led by Alexei Treshnikov, replaced the first in December 1956. It arrived at the Sixth Continent again on the Ob and Lena, as well as on the passenger ship Kooperatsiya and consisted of two sea and one coastal detachments.

The Ob approached the Pravda Coast on December 12, 1956, but was forced to stop at a distance of 25 kilometers from the Mirny, at the edge of the fast ice that had spread far into the sea. The meeting with the arrivals took place in the morning. All day long, helicopters cruised over the fast ice among the accumulation of icebergs, delivering residents of Mirny to the Ob, and back to those who arrived at the Ob. By January 10, 1957, the Kooperatsiya with the main scientific staff arrived at the Mirny roadstead, which had to be met and led through the ice with the help of an icebreaker. The last one to arrive (not to the fast ice, but to the ice barrier) was the Lena.

Unloading ships onto the ice barrier is a difficult and dangerous operation. But this is the only possible way of unloading, when all the fast ice is torn off and carried by the wind into the sea. For the first AEC, such unloading went well. But this time people died during unloading. Hundreds of tons of broken ice fell aboard the Lena and into the water, dragging people with it. Two were killed, and seven people who fell overboard were seriously injured, but were rescued. The dead were buried on Hasuel Island, which is the first to meet Soviet ships arriving at Mirny.

Each CAE starts with a ship. Those enrolled in the expedition (usually called registered), that is, those who have successfully passed the medical examination, received a sailor’s passport, warm clothes, and filled out numerous forms (including even a will), are sent to Antarctica on expedition ships. Until the mid-1970s, diesel-electric ships Lena, Navarin, and Ob sailed to the Sixth Continent almost every year. White comfortable motor ships “Kooperatsiya”, “Mikhail Kalinin”, “Estonia”, “Nadezhda Krupskaya” also came here. Fuel was delivered by oil tankers. Expeditionary ships were used - the floating laboratories “Professor Wiese” and “Professor Zubov”.

The voyage from Leningrad to the shores of the south polar continent takes a little more than a month. And from Australia, where some of the Soviet winterers were transferred by plane to save time, it is only 10 days. Il-18 and An-10 aircraft with landings in Central Asia, India, Burma, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand also took approximately 10 days. True, the flight time here was only 48 hours.

The second CEA, to carry out the scientific program of the upcoming International Geophysical Year, left 188 people for the winter in Mirny, which was 96 people more than the year before.

Treshnikov's winterers created several scientific stations that brought the Soviet Union closer to the South Pole. So, they built an intermediate base for the trip to the Geomagnetic Pole - the Komsomolskaya station, located more than 500 kilometers from Mirny, and between this station and Pionerskaya - the Vostok-1 intermediate station.

In December 1957, ships with members of the Third Expedition (now SAE), led by E. Tolstikov, arrived at the Mirny roadstead. On board the Ob, future winterers delivered equipment for the new Sovetskaya inland station, new Penguin-type all-terrain vehicles and modernized aircraft of the Antarctic detachment. The meeting was joyful, but unexpectedly, during the transfer of business, the American icebreaker Burton Island arrived at the Mirny roadstead with... the deputy commander of the 43rd operational unit of the US Navy, Captain Gerald Ketchum.

Yes, yes, the same one who recently headed the “Windmill” operation - it put an end to the existence of “New Swabia” and “Horst Wessel”. Officially, Ketchum wanted to get acquainted with the living conditions at the Mirny station, the achievements of Soviet science and, of course, technology.

The leadership of the Soviet expeditions complacently allowed him to do this. But Gerald Ketchum did not arrive at the Soviet research station alone. Together with him, Burton Island officers and expedition scientists arrived at our oldest Antarctic station, including: the head of the Wilkes station, biologist Carl Ackland, the head of the Hallet station, geographer James Shear, the glaciologist from Wilkes Richard Cameron, the oceanographer Star, commander of the arriving icebreaker Braningham.

Then more than a hundred more sailors from Burton Island visited Mirny. The crew of this armed icebreaker (1x27-mm universal gun and 4x40-mm machine guns), specially built for work in the Antarctic, consists of only 234 people. Thus, every second of the American crew visited the Soviet station on January 29, 1958. What curiosity! And previously there seemed to be no interest.

Before the Soviet winterers had time to see off their American colleagues, on January 31, the Australian expedition ship Tala Dan, heading to Mawson station, arrived at the Mirny roadstead. Once again, the guests wanted to get acquainted with the Soviet Mirny station. Our management has cordially reopened all station premises. The guests toured Mirny, its laboratories and facilities.

The Australians inspected in particular detail the new Penguin all-terrain vehicles, which were converted from armored personnel carriers. Not the least role in developing the curiosity of foreign colleagues was played by the fact that on the bright orange bodies of the new cars, in addition to penguins stamped with paint, green hearts pierced by a yellow arrow were painted.

Who came up with such a “brilliant” idea: to bring decommissioned armored personnel carriers to Antarctica, as if copied from Soviet self-propelled guns, albeit without guns, which extremely irritated our recent allies in World War II, and also wore military symbols? The escort team could not explain this. And even more so for Soviet winterers. But both the Americans and Australians were alarmed!

From 1960 to 1990, the USSR conducted more than 20 expeditions to explore Antarctica, maintaining about 10 permanent polar stations here. At the same time, several previously opened scientific stations were mothballed, but are fully ready to receive polar explorers. "Oasis" was mothballed at the end of 1958, "Pionerskaya" and "Sovetskaya" - at the beginning of 1959. In 1968, the Soviet Bellingshausen station was established on Waterloo Island (South Shetland Islands archipelago) near the Antarctic Peninsula.

And at the beginning of 1971, on the banks of the Ots, the Leningradskaya station. If we do not consider these mothballed stations as reserve strongholds for further development, or rather, securing the Antarctic deserts for the USSR, then such a short lifespan and frequent mothballing of our Antarctic stations, in contrast to foreign polar stations, is very difficult to explain.

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From the book by Sergei Kovalev „ Mysteries of the Sixth Continent” .

Antarctica is the harshest continent on our planet. The polar night, which lasts for several months, extremely low air temperatures, stormy winds and transport distance from most developed countries have made it the most sparsely populated region on Earth. Despite the obvious difficulties, employees of research stations, of which there are almost 90 today, live and work in Antarctica.

In addition to Russia and the USA - eternal rivals in all spheres of scientific activity, China, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, India and several other countries have their stations in Antarctica.

Antarctica is a special continent. There are no state borders here, and according to the 1961 Antarctic Treaty, any country has the right to locate research stations here.

The first attempts to settle on the continent were made at the beginning of the 20th century. But due to climatic and political difficulties, this was only possible in the 1940s, when the first three permanent research stations owned by Great Britain were founded.

Modular British station Halley VI

After the end of World War II, interest in scientific research in Antarctica began to increase and new stations regularly appeared on the icy expanses of the continent. Most of them were located on the coast, where there were more favorable conditions for accommodation and supplies. Following Great Britain, Chile, the USSR, France and the USA had their own polar stations. The first Soviet station, called Mirny, was founded in 1956 on the east coast of Antarctica.

The first Soviet polar station "Mirny"

Today there are 89 polar research stations in Antarctica. Some of them are shared by two or three countries. Almost half of these stations, 41 to be exact, are seasonal, that is, they operate only during the short polar summer. This is understandable, life in Antarctica is too harsh, and maintaining a research station is quite expensive.

Amundsen-Scott - American polar station at the South Pole

The largest number of stations are owned by Argentina (14) and Chile (12), located closest to Antarctica and having not only scientific, but also territorial interests here. Russia has 9 polar stations, including the famous Vostok station, where the lowest temperature on the planet was recorded - minus 89.2 degrees. France and Great Britain have 6 polar stations each, Australia has 5, China and Japan have 4 scientific bases each, and the USA has only 3. Italy, Spain, Norway and India have 2 research stations each.

Russian station "Progress"

Scientists are engaged in meteorological observations, analyzing the state of the ice cover, and collecting data on the animal world of Antarctica. There are also special projects related to the study of global processes occurring on our planet. But, despite the large number of polar stations, Antarctica remains the least explored continent of our planet.