New Zealand Antarctic Research Program

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The New Zealand Antarctic Research Program (NZARP) has been a research program of the Geophysical Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) of the New Zealand government since 1957 . As part of the program, a permanently manned research station was operated in the Antarctic . The program was based in Wellington. In 1996 it was transferred to other government programs or agencies as part of a reorganization.

The aim and task of NZARP was to support scientific field research in the fields of geochemistry , geology , meteorology , limnology , botany and zoology in the Antarctic . The participants worked as researchers, expedition leaders and for the maintenance of Scott Base .

history

The origin of the NZARP was the desire of the New Zealand government in 1953 to set up a research station in the Antarctic.

The groundbreaking for the construction of the Scott Base took place on January 10, 1957. The assembly of the base with eight men on site, who had already carried out this previously on a trial basis in Wellington, began two days later and was completed on January 20, 1957.

Since 1959, the NZARP a role in the Ross Dependency Research Committee in research in the Ross Dependency , claimed by the New Zealand part of Antarctica.

In 1962 Scott Base was designated as a permanent research station and the NZARP was entrusted with the maintenance.

In 1967, the first remains of terrestrial vertebrates were detected in Antarctica by Peter Barrett , which supported the theory of continental drift .

In 1969, a six-person team from NZARP became the first women to reach the South Pole .

Various other geographic features were explored as part of the NZARP, including Ball Glacier , Atkinson Glacier , Findlay Range , Thomas Heights and Mount Bradshaw .

When state research activities and agencies were reorganized into the Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) in 1992, NZARP was assigned to the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).

Since 1996 the program has been running within the framework of the newly established government agency The New Zealand Antarctic Institute or Antarctica New Zealand .

There are currently three buildings left from the first station. In 2005, Antarctica New Zealand constructed a new 1800 m 2 building, which is named Hillary Field Center. It has space for material handling, normal and refrigerated storage room, offices, fitness room, meeting and training rooms as well as workshops for maintaining the expedition equipment. As the base has expanded, Antarctica New Zealand's program has also grown from its beginnings as NZARP.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Brief History . Antarctica New Zealand , 2011, archived from the original on November 1, 2011 ; accessed on May 5, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
  2. ↑ a b Scott Base 50years . In: Antarctica New Zealand . Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  3. ↑ a b c Timeline - Antarctica and NZ . In: New Zealand History . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , February 11, 2010, accessed March 14, 2011 .
  4. ↑ Erebus: The recovery - Ray Goldring's account . In: Television New Zealand , November 14, 2009. Retrieved October 30, 2011. 
  5. ↑ P. Barrett on the University of Wellington website (accessed October 17, 2017)
  6. ^ Antarctica New Zealand website