This article is about the former Soviet research station. For the geographic features, see
Pole of inaccessibility
.
Antarctic research station in Kemp Land
The
Pole of Inaccessibility research station
(
Russian
:
Полюс недоступности
) is a defunct
Soviet
research station in
Kemp Land
,
Antarctica
, at the southern
pole of inaccessibility
(the point in Antarctica furthest from any
ocean
) as defined in 1958 when the station was established. Later definitions give other locations, all relatively near this point. It performed meteorological observations from 14 to 26 December 1958. The Pole of Inaccessibility has the world's coldest year-round average temperature of ?58.2 °C (?72.8 °F).
[2]
It is 878 km (546 mi) from the
South Pole
, and approximately 600 km (370 mi) from
Sovetskaya
. The surface elevation is 3,724 meters (12,218 feet). It was reached on 14 December 1958 by an 18-man traversing party of the
3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition
.
[3]
Its
WMO
ID is 89550.
[4]
History
[
edit
]
Equipment and personnel were delivered by an Antarctic tractor convoy operated by the 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition. The station had a hut for four people, a radio shack, and an electrical hut. These buildings had been constructed on the tractors used during the traverse, serving as accommodation. Next to the hut, an airstrip was cleared and a
Li-2
aircraft landed there on 18 December 1958. The outpost was equipped with a diesel power generator and a transmitter. On 26 December the outpost was vacated indefinitely. Four researchers were airlifted out, and the remaining 14 members of the party returned with the tractors. The station was deemed to be too far from other research stations to allow safe permanent operation, so it was left to be used for future short-term visits only.
[5]
The
8th Soviet Antarctic Expedition
visited the site on 1 February 1964 and left five days later.
[6]
The American
Queen Maud Land Traverse
reached the Pole of Inaccessibility from
Amundsen?Scott South Pole Station
on 27 January 1965. The crew were flown out by a
C-130
on 1 February. On 15 December 1965 a new American crew arrived by C-130 to make observations, refurbish the
snowcats
, and continue the Queen Maud Land Traverse, zig-zagging to the newly installed
Plateau Station
, where they arrived on 29 January 1966.
[7]
The
12th Soviet Antarctic Expedition
visited the site in 1967.
[6]
On 19 January 2007, the
British
Team N2i
reached the Pole of Inaccessibility using specially-designed
foil kites
.
[8]
On 27 December 2011, during the Antarctica Legacy Crossing,
Sebastian Copeland
, and partner Eric McNair-Landry, reached the Pole of Inaccessibility by foot and
kite ski
from the
Novolazarevskaya
station, on their way to completing the first partial east?west transcontinental crossing of Antarctica of over 4,100 km (2,500 mi).
Historic site
[
edit
]
The station building is surmounted by a
bust
of
Vladimir Lenin
facing
Moscow
. As of 2007, it is almost entirely buried by snow, with little more than the bust visible.
[8]
Following a proposal by Russia to the
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting
, the buried building and emergent bust, along with a
plaque
commemorating the conquest of the Pole of Inaccessibility by Soviet Antarctic explorers in 1958, has been designated a
Historic Site or Monument
(HSM 4).
[1]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"List of Historic Sites and Monuments approved by the ATCM (2012)"
(PDF)
. Antarctic Treaty Secretariat. 2012
. Retrieved
October 24,
2013
.
- ^
Crowder, Bob; Robertson, Ted; Vallier-Talbot, Eleanor; Whitaker, Richard.
Weather
(Revised and updated ed.). William J. Burroughs. p. 59.
- ^
Nudel'man, A. V. (1959).
Soviet Antarctic Expeditions 1955-1959
. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR.
- ^
"Catalogue of Russian Federation Antarctic Meteorology Data"
. Laboratory of Ocean and Climate Antarctic Studies,
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
. Archived from
the original
on October 29, 2013
. Retrieved
January 29,
2013
.
- ^
А.С. ЛАЗАРЕВ (December 16, 2008).
ДОСТИЖЕНИЕ ПОЛЮСА НЕДОСТУПНОСТИ
(in Russian). Archived from
the original
on July 10, 2017
. Retrieved
April 23,
2009
.
- ^
a
b
"Norwegian-U.S. Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica"
. Archived from
the original
on March 12, 2017
. Retrieved
January 21,
2017
.
- ^
Cameron, R. L.; Picciotto, E.; Kane, H.S.; Gliozzi, J. (April 1968).
Glaciology of the Queen Maud Land Traverse, 1964-65 South Pole ? Pole of Relative Inaccessibility
(Technical report). Research Foundation and the Institute of Polar Studies.
hdl
:
1811/38761
.
- ^
a
b
"Team N2i successfully conquer the Pole of Inaccessibility by foot and kite on 19th Jan '07"
. Archived from
the original
on August 16, 2011
. Retrieved
August 16,
2011
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
Media related to
Pole of inaccessibility
at Wikimedia Commons
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