Bellingshausen station
Coordinates: 62 ° 12 ′ S , 58 ° 58 ′ W
The Bellingshausen Station is a Russian Antarctic -Station on King George Iceland at Ardley Cove , a side bay of Maxwell Bay . It was built in 1968 by the Soviet Union on the almost ice-free western Fildes Peninsula and served as the main depot of the Russian fishing Antarctic fleet.
Preparations, accommodations, work
As early as 1959, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR planned to commission a research station on the sixth continent. Separate postmarks had already been made for the opening day, bearing the inscription "CCCP, Антарктида Беллингсгаузен" and the date April 15, 59. It is not known why it took longer than planned to build.
The official opening does not take place until February 22, 1968, when Arnold Budretzki took over the management of the station. The scientists present carried out research in the fields of meteorology , glaciology , geophysics and biology . The polar explorers received sleeve patches for their special clothing that showed a seal's head in front of the map of King George Island. Since it opened, GDR biologists have been able to live in the station and take part in research into southern Shetland. The station offers space for 25 residents , but up to 50 people can live there.
The station was named after Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen , a Baltic German navigator in the Russian service .
The Trinity Church , the southernmost Russian Orthodox church in the world, is close to the station .
A monitoring station of the SDCM system is located on site .
Web links
- Official site of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (English)
- AARI Official side of the base (English)
- COMNAP Antarctic Facilities ( Memento of August 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- COMNAP Antarctic Facilities Map (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Leonid Dubrowin: Station Bellinghausen Arktika Antarktika Filatelia (Russian)
- ↑ Dieter Querndt: The Antarctic stations on King George Island (South Shetlands) . In: Polarkurier , Zeitschrift für Polarphilatelie, ed. from the Philatelist Association of the GDR (1980–1990)