Monday, December 15, 2008

Dec 15 - Mawson Station

Location: 67°36' S 62°52' E

Mawson station was first established in 1954, and the first building was the pre-fabricated "Biscoe Hut" which was one of three originally built for the 1949-52 Norwegian-Swedish-British Antarctic (NSB) expedition to Queen Maud Land and which they did not need as planned. It is visible in the first picture as the green-roofed low hut centre-right and is the only 1 of the three still remaining - the others having slid off glaciers into the sea some time ago. the rest of the metal huts in this photo are of a later 1960-70's era and were often so snowed in that the only way to get out was through the roof - a tedious and unpleasant way to get to dinner during a blizzard.

Today, the modern buildings built in the 80's are very luxurious - heated, weatherproof, snooker table etc. The large red one to the right is the mechanics workshop; the others are all behind the photographer. This photo also shows the dome over the satellite dish (which is pointing almost horizontal to camera right - our latitude being so far south that the geostationary satellite is almost on the horizon). At the top of the hill is the Aeronomy building, where several long-standing scientific observation experiments are housed and to the left is one of the two wind turbine generator which supply about 50% of the station's' power requirements.

The second photo shows the interior of the "Green Shed" which is where most of the stores are kept. That includes all sorts of consumable and food and frozen lamb for in excess of 12 months in case a supply ship can't get through the following year.

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