Antarctic Research Station "Vostok"

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 expedition 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 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, flora 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 meteorological 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.

Management 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 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 residents 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 here for the station, due to the approaching storm, left the contents of its holds on sea ​​ice. 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 scientific works nikov, the rest are American military 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 King Baudouin station was established on the Princess Ranhilda Coast ice shelf near the Soviet Antarctic Lazarev station.

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 difficult, but Antarctica has never been famous 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 dead cities extraterrestrial civilization and 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, the premises available on the sleigh of the tractor train were used, 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. Mainland group of the Soviet scientific expedition under the leadership of Mikhail Somov, consisting of 70 people of various specialties, landed on the shore near 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 a cluster of icebergs, delivering Mirny residents to the Ob, and those arriving on the Ob back. 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 that's the only thing possible way 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 closer Soviet Union 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 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 examined 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” .

The article contains information about the polar stations of Antarctica. Describes the living and working conditions of polar explorers. Contains historical information related to the most important moments in the history of the development of the continent.

Scientific stations in Antarctica

The bulk of the polar stations are located in the coastal region of the continent, and only three of them are located inland:

• American base "Amundsen-Scott";
• Franco-Italian Concordia base;
• Russian base "Vostok".

Rice. 1. Russian base "Vostok".

The area where the Vostok station is located is considered particularly harsh from a weather and climatic point of view.

Associated with the opening of the Vostok station in Antarctica interesting story. In the early 50s of the last century, at a meeting in France, tasks were set regarding the development of the coldest continent. A delegate from the USSR was late for the meeting due to difficulties with documents. The site for the station at the very South Geographic Pole was transferred to the Americans.

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Vostok station was founded in 1957.

The USSR got the South Geomagnetic Pole and the Pole of Inaccessibility.

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After half a century, scientists managed to obtain a sample of water from an underground lake, which was located under the station itself.

The lake of the same name is the fifth largest in terms of fresh water volume. It is located under the ice at a depth of almost 4000 m.

History in names and numbers

Molodezhnaya station bears the proud name “ former capital» Antarctica.

The station was the largest and most ambitious building of this type. The base once housed about seventy buildings that replicated the infrastructure of the streets. It housed residential buildings, scientific and research laboratories, as well as an oil depot and an airfield that was capable of receiving large aircraft such as IL-76.

The station has been fully operational since 1962. Its territory could simultaneously accommodate up to one and a half hundred people. But in the late 90s (in 1999) the Russian tricolor was lowered. In 2006, the base that worked all year round, has become a seasonal object.

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The Mirny base got its name from the boat, the ship of the Bellingshausen and Lazarev expedition. The first observatory was opened at the base.

In total, there are 5 Russian bases in Antarctica that operate constantly:

• "Bellingshausen"
• "Peaceful",
• "East",
• "Progress",
• "Novolazarevskaya".

Scientists study the atmosphere, weather, ice, movement earth's crust. Quite comfortable conditions have been created at all bases. The closest neighbors of the scientists from the Novolazarevskaya base are specialists from India.

Bellingshausen is the only polar station in Antarctica that has an Orthodox church on its territory.

Rice. 2. Temple at Bellingshausen station.

Today, the main Russian polar station is Progress. Initially it was opened as a seasonal one (in 1989), but later received permanent status.

Recently, the base has taken over the bulk of the functions that were once performed by Mirny and Molodezhnaya. The station is an administrative, scientific and logistics point of Russian Antarctica.

Rice. 3. Station “Progress.

"Akademik Vernadsky" is a former British station that was purchased by Ukraine for a nominal fee of 1 pound sterling.

What have we learned?

We found out which of the polar stations is the largest. We found out how many stations in Russia operate continuously. We received information about which base continues to operate in the most severe and difficult weather conditions. We found out which of the research facilities are located at the greatest distance from others. We found out what kind of scientific research researchers are carrying out on the coldest of continents.

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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 of 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 the conduct of any economic activity on the territory of Antarctica (in particular, on 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. To early XIX centuries, geographers could safely read out this list of animals, 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 discovered the sixth continent for the world. Showed great interest in Antarctica Russian Empire and in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, 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 in full force. 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 on the mainland was built in 2004 Orthodox Church. 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 one was created here sports complex for polar explorers with a sauna, medical equipment and various exercise equipment.

The Mirny polar station was founded in Antarctica on the shores of the Davis Sea as part of the First Soviet Antarctic Expedition (1955-1957). It became the main base for our country’s exploration of the continent, from where all other stations were controlled.

The name “Mirny” is taken from the legendary sloop, one of the ships of the expedition of Bellingshausen and Lazarev, which discovered Antarctica in January 1820. The second ship, Vostok, also gave its name to a Soviet and then Russian polar station.

IN best years The Mirny station was home to 150-200 polar explorers, but recently its crew has numbered 15-20 researchers. And the function of managing all Russian bases in Antarctica moved to the more modern Progress station.

Vostok: the most famous Soviet station

The Vostok-1 station was founded on May 18, 1957 in the interior of Antarctica, 620 kilometers from the Mirny base. But already on December 1, the facility was closed, and the equipment was transported even deeper into the continent, to a place that eventually became known as the Vostok station (its date of birth was December 16, 1957).

"Vostok" became the most famous Soviet and Russian Antarctic station thanks to the record low temperature recorded there in 1983 - minus 89.2 degrees Celsius. It was “beaten” only thirty years later - in December 2013 at the Japanese Fuji Dome station, where a temperature mark of minus 91.2 degrees was observed.

Aero-meteorological, geophysical, glaciological and medical research has been and is being carried out at the Vostok station, where they study “ ozone holes"and properties of materials at low temperatures. And at a depth of three kilometers, it was under this station that the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica was discovered, which received the same name - Vostok.

The place where “Vostok” is located is one of the most severe from a weather point of view. The events of Vladimir Sanin’s heroic books “72 degrees below zero”, “Newcomer in Antarctica” and “Trapped” take place at the station. Popular feature films were made based on these works in Soviet times.

Pole of inaccessibility - the most distant station

The Pole of Inaccessibility station, which existed for just under two weeks in December 1958, went down in history for two reasons. Firstly, it is located at the point of the same name in Antarctica, the farthest from the coast of the continent. The discovery of an object in this place was the response of Soviet polar explorers to the appearance of the American Amundsen-Scott base at the South Pole.

Secondly, the “Pole of Inaccessibility” was decorated with a bust of Lenin installed on the top of the pyramid that crowned the station building. This figure still towers over the icy plains of Antarctica, even when the structure itself is covered with snow.

Novolazarevskaya – polar station with a bathhouse

Having replaced the Lazarev station, which was closed in 1961, Novolazarevskaya thundered throughout the Soviet Union as a legendary event when doctor Leonid Rogozov performed a unique operation - he cut out his own inflamed appendicitis.

"While you're here in the tiled bathtub
Wash, bask, warm up, -
He's in the cold with his own scalpel
There he cuts out the appendix,” Vladimir Vysotsky sang about this human feat.

And in 2007, Novolazarevskaya again appeared on the front pages of Russian newspapers and news sites. The first and still only Russian bathhouse in Antarctica was opened there!

Bellingshausen – polar station with church

Bellingshausen is not just a Russian research station in southern latitudes, this is the spiritual center of Russian Antarctica. After all, on its territory there is the Church of the Holy Trinity, brought there disassembled from Russia in 2004.

Since Bellingshausen is located in close proximity to the Chilean, Uruguayan, Korean, Brazilian, Argentine, Polish and Peruvian stations, employees of the latter regularly go to services in the Russian church - there are no others nearby.

Molodezhnaya - the former “capital” of Antarctica

For a long time, the Molodezhnaya station was considered the capital of Soviet Antarctica. After all, it was the largest object of its kind. There were about seventy buildings at the base, lined up into streets. There were not only residential complexes and research laboratories, but also an oil depot and even an airfield capable of receiving such large aircraft as the IL-76.

The station has been in operation since 1962. Up to 150 people could live and work on it at the same time. But in 1999, the Russian flag was lowered; the once year-round base was first completely mothballed, and in 2006 transferred to seasonal operation.

Progress is the center of Russian presence in Antarctica

Nowadays, Progress is considered the main Russian polar station. It was opened in 1989 as a seasonal one, but over time it “built up” its infrastructure and became permanent. In 2013, a new wintering complex was opened at Progress with a gym and sauna, sports equipment, modern hospital equipment, tennis and billiard tables, as well as living rooms, research laboratories and a galley.

IN recent years“Progress” took over most of the functions that were performed by those experiencing better times“Peaceful” and “Youth”. So now this is where the administrative, scientific and logistics center of Russian Antarctica is located.