Concordia Station Explained

Concordia Station
Settlement Type:Antarctic base
Flag Size:110px
Flag Border:yes
Mapsize:270px
Pushpin Map:Antarctica
Pushpin Map Alt:Location of Concordia Station in Antarctica
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of Condordia Station in Antarctica
Pushpin Mapsize:270
Pushpin Relief:yes
Coordinates:-75.0998°N 123.3322°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:
Subdivision Type1:Location in Antarctica
Subdivision Name1:Dome C
Antarctic Plateau
Subdivision Type3:Administered by
Subdivision Name3:PRNA
IPEV
Established Title:Established
Elevation M:3,233
Population As Of:2017
Population Footnotes:[1]
Population Blank1 Title:Summer
Population Blank1:70
Population Blank2 Title:Winter
Population Blank2:13
Blank Name Sec1:Type
Blank Info Sec1:All Year-round
Blank1 Name Sec1:Period
Blank1 Info Sec1:Annual
Blank2 Name Sec1:Status
Blank2 Info Sec1:Operational
Blank Name Sec2:Activities
Code1 Name:UN/LOCODE
Code1 Info:AQ CON
Website:Concordia Institut Polaire Français

Concordia Research Station, which opened in 2005, is a French–Italian research facility that was built 3233m (10,607feet) above sea level at a location called Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau, Antarctica. It is located 1100km (700miles) inland from the French research station at Dumont D'Urville, 1100km (700miles) inland from Australia's Casey Station and 1200km (700miles) inland from the Italian Zucchelli Station at Terra Nova Bay. Russia's Vostok Station is 560km (350miles) away. The Geographic South Pole is 1670km (1,040miles) away. The facility is also located within Australia's claim on Antarctica, the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Concordia Station is the third permanent, all-year research station on the Antarctic Plateau besides Vostok Station (Russian) and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station (U.S.) at the Geographic South Pole. It is jointly operated by scientists from France and Italy and regularly hosts ESA scientists.

History

In 1992, France built a new station on the Antarctic Plateau. The program was later joined by Italy in 1993.

In 1995, Pr. Jean Vernin from University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis and Pr. Giorgio Dall'Oglio from University of Rome performed the first scientific experience towards a site qualification at Dome C.

In 1996, a French-Italian team established a summer camp at Dome C. The two main objectives of the camp were the provision of logistical support for the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) and the construction of a permanent research station.

The new all-year facility, Concordia Station, became operational in 2005. The first winterover began with a staff of 13 (eleven French and 2 Italians) in February 2005.

Transportation

Concordia Skiway
Icao:AT03
Type:Private
Operator:National Antarctic Research Program
IPEV
Location:Antarctic Plateau
Utc:UTC+8
Elevation-F:10,725
Elevation-M:3,269
Coordinates:-75.1033°N 123.3583°W
R1-Number:01/19
R1-Length-F:4,910
R1-Length-M:1,497
R1-Surface:Ice[2]

Most of the cargo is moved to Dome C by traverse (called raid)[3] from Dumont d'Urville Station, covering in 7 to 12 days depending on weather conditions. Station personnel and light cargo arrive by air, landing on a Skiway, using the Twin Otters or Basler BT-67 flying from DDU or Zucchelli Station at .

Environment

Dome C is situated on top of the Antarctic Plateau. No animals or plants live at a distance of more than a few tens of kilometers from the Southern Ocean. However, south polar skuas have been spotted overflying the station, 1,200 km away from their nearest food sources. It is believed that these birds have learned to cross the continent instead of circumnavigating it.

Human biology and medicine

Concordia Station shares many stressor characteristics similar to that of long-duration deep-space missions, in particular extreme isolation and confinement, and therefore serves as a useful analogue platform for research relevant to space medicine. During the winter, the crew are isolated from the outside world, having no transportation and limited communication[4] for 9 months and live a prolonged period in complete darkness, at an altitude almost equivalent to 4000m at the equator. This creates physiological and psychological strains on the crew. Concordia station is particularly useful for the study of chronic hypobaric hypoxia, stress secondary to confinement and isolation, circadian rhythm and sleep disruption, individual and group psychology, telemedicine, and astrobiology. Concordia station has been proposed as one of the real-life Earth-based analogues for long-duration deep-space missions.[5]

Glaciology

In the 1970s, Dome C was the site of ice core drilling by field teams of several nations.In the 1990s, Dome C was chosen for deep ice core drilling by the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA). Drilling at Dome C began in 1996 and was completed on December 21, 2004, reaching a drilling depth of 3270.2 m, 5 m above bedrock. The age of the oldest recovered ice is estimated to be ca. 900,000 years.[6]

Astronomy

Concordia Station has been identified as a suitable location for extremely accurate astronomical observations. The transparency of the Antarctic atmosphere permits the observation of stars even when the sun is at an elevation angle of 38°. Other advantages include the very low infrared sky emission, the high percentage of cloud-free time and the low aerosol and dust content of the atmosphere.

The median seeing measured with a DIMM Differential Image Motion Monitor [7] placed on top of an 8.5 m high tower is 1.3 ± 0.8 arcseconds.This is significantly worse than most major observatory sites, but similar to other observatories in Antarctica. However, Lawrence et al. consider other features of the site and conclude that "Dome C is the best ground-based site to develop a new astronomical observatory".[8] Note however that this was written before whole-atmospheric seeing measurements had been made at Dome C.

Thanks to the Single Star Scidar SSS, Vernin, Chadid and Aristidi et al.[9] and Giordano, Vernin and Chadid et al.[10] finally demonstrated that most of the optical turbulence is concentrated within the first 30 m atmospheric level at Dome C. The rest of the atmosphere is very quiet with a seeing of about 0.3-0.4 arcseconds, and the overall seeing is somewhat around 1.0 arcseconds.

Launched in 2007, PAIX the first robotic multi-color Antarctica Photometer[11] gives a new insight to cope with unresolved stellar enigma and stellar oscillation challenges and offers a greatopportunity to benefit from an access to the best astronomical site on Earth –Dome C–. Indeed, Chadid, Vernin, Preston et al.[12] implement, for the first time from the ground, a new way to study the stellar oscillations, pulsations and their evolutionaryproperties with long uninterrupted and continuous precision observations over 150 days, andwithout the regular interruptions imposed by the Earth rotation. PAIX achieves astrophysical UBVRI bands time-series measurements of stellar physics fields,challenging photometry from Space.

The Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets (ASTEP) programme is composed of two telescopes: a 10 cm refractor installed in 2008, and a 40 cm telescope installed in 2010 and upgraded in 2022.[13] [14] [15]

Climate

The climate at Dome C where Concordia Station is located is frigid all year round, being one of the coldest places on Earth. It has a polar ice cap climate (Köppen EF), with maximums ranging from -24.8C in December to -62C in May, mean ranging from -30.4C in December to -65.3C in May and minimums ranging from -36.1C in December to -68.7C in May. The annual average air temperature is -54.5C. The station has never recorded a temperature above freezing; the warmest temperature recorded was -5.4C in January. Temperatures can fall below -80C in winter, and the coldest recorded temperature was -84.6C in August 2010; one of the coldest temperatures ever recorded on Earth.

Humidity is low and it is also very dry, with very little precipitation throughout the year.

Dome C does not experience the katabatic winds typical for the coastal regions of Antarctica because of its elevated location and its relative distance from the edges of the Antarctic Plateau. Typical wind speed in winter is 2.8 m/s.

Winterovers

While the station has been in use for summer campaigns since December 1997, the first winterover (February to October) was only made in 2005. During this period, the station is inaccessible, requiring total autonomy.

First winter-over (DC01 – 2005)

The first winter began in mid-February 2005, with thirteen wintering (eleven French people and two Italians):

In September 2005 the highest temperature was −48 °C, with an average in August of −60.2 °C and a record of −78.6 °C on 1 September.At these temperatures, trips outside had to be performed with the utmost care. Those going outside travelled at least in pairs and were equipped with a radio, spare batteries and a full fleece suit, with only the eyes at times visible. Italian Glaciologist Emanuele Salvietti had to take snow samples every day one kilometre from the base. As he had to walk (because no vehicle operates at these temperatures), he built a full face mask, with only a pipe to breathe. The slightest mistake would lead to certain injury, as astronomer Agabi Karim explained: "Burns on the cheeks and eyelashes glued to the lens of the telescope," after exposure to the freezing cold.

Second winter-over (DC02 – 2006)

The second winter was conducted from February to November 2006 with a team of ten wintering (six French, four Italian and 1 American):

The record temperature for this winter was measured at −80 °C on 5 September 2006 at 2:37 ET was renewed several times.

Third winter-over (DC03 – 2007)

The third winter ran from February to November 2007 with a team of wintering composed of fourteen people (eight French and six Italian):

The average temperature was −65 °C and the minimum temperature recorded was −81.9 °C reached on September 5.

Fourth winter-over (DC04 – 2008)

The fourth winter took place from 31 January 2008 to 8 November 2008 with a team consisting of thirteen winter-overs (seven French and six Italian):

Fifth winter-over (DC05 – 2009)

The fifth wintering took place from February 2009 to November 2009 with a team of twelve people (eight French, three Italian and one British):

Sixth winter-over (DC06 – 2010)

This Wintering took place with a team of thirteen (six French, six Italian and one Czech):

Seventh winter-over (DC07 – 2011)

The seventh wintering took place with a team of 14 people (seven French, six Italian and one British):

Eighth winter-over (DC08 – 2012)

The eighth wintering took place with a team of 13 people (seven French, four Italian, one Russian and one British):

Ninth winter-over (DC09 – 2013)

The ninth wintering took place with a team of 15 people (nine French, five Italian and one Greek):

Tenth winter-over (DC10 – 2014)

The tenth wintering took place with a team of 13 people (six French, five Italian, one Russian and one Greek):[16]

During the 2014 Antarctic winter Concordia was an active amateur radio station: Paride Legovini operated from there on a weekly basis with call sign IA/IZ3SUS.[19] The HF radio equipment consists in a Rohde & Schwarz XK2100L transceiver with a 150W RF output and a delta loop antenna located a few hundreds of meters away from the station.[20]

The analemma (path that the sun follows in the sky if photographed at precisely the same time every week through the course of a year) was imaged for the first time ever in Antarctica by Adrianos Golemis during the 10th winterover mission at Concordia Station (2013–2014). The resulting composite exposure image was selected as NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) on 23 September 2015.

Eleventh winter-over (DC11 – 2015)

The eleventh wintering is taking place from February 2015 to November 2015 with a team of 13 people (six French, five Italian, one British and one Swiss):[21]

ESA Biomedical Research, United Kingdom

Twelfth winter-over (DC12 – 2016)

The twelfth winter began on February 10, 2016, with twelve overwintering (five Italian, six French, one Dutch):

Thirteenth winter-over (DC13 – 2017)

The thirteenth winter began on February 9, 2017, with thirteen overwintering (five French, seven Italian, one Belgian Canadian):

Fourteenth winter-over (DC14 – 2018)

The fourteenth winter began on February 6, 2018, with thirteen overwintering (five French, seven Italian, one Austrian):

Fifteenth winter-over (DC15 – 2019)

The fifteenth winter began on February 13, 2019, with thirteen overwintering (five French, six Italian, one Danish and one Australian):

Sixteenth winter-over (DC16 – 2020)

The sixteenth winter began on February 7, 2020, with twelve overwintering (seven French, four Italian, one Dutch):

Seventeenth winter-over (DC17 – 2021)

The seventeenth winter began on January 31, 2021, with twelve overwintering (five French, six Italian, one British):

Eighteenth winter-over (DC18 – 2022)

The eighteenth winter began on 7 February 2022, with thirteen overwintering (six French, six Italian and one Swedish):[22]

Nineteenth winter-over (DC19 – 2023)

The nineteenth winter began on 7 February 2023, with twelve overwintering (six French, five Italian and one German):

Twentieth winter-over (DC20 – 2024)

The twentieth winter began on 31st January 2024, with thirteen overwintering (seven French, five Italian and one Swiss):

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. catalogue . Antarctic Station Catalogue . August 2017 . . 978-0-473-40409-3 . 73 . 16 January 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221022102847/https://static1.squarespace.com/static/61073506e9b0073c7eaaf464/t/611497cc1ece1b43f0eeca8a/1628739608968/COMNAP_Antarctic_Station_Catalogue.pdf . 22 October 2022 . live.
  2. Web site: AT03 Concordia Station. Airport Nav Finder . 15 October 2018.
  3. Web site: A minimalist photo taken from space reveals the incredible isolation of Antarctic researchers on Earth . Quartz . 11 January 2017 . 28 February 2023.
  4. Web site: What life is like in the most remote corner of the world. Akshat. Rathi. Quartz. 2015-08-14. 2018-11-12.
  5. 10.1136/bmj.b2453 . The coldest job on earth . BMJ . b2453 . 2009 . Salam . Alex . 79621954 .
  6. Alfred-Wegener-Institut . 2005-01-13 . In the Cornucopia of the European Project of Ice Coring in Antarctica: the oldest Antarctic ice core . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060103080600/http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de/AWI/Presse/PM/pm05-1.hj/050113EPICA-e.html . 3 January 2006 . dmy-all .
  7. Abdelkrim Agabi . Eric Aristidi . Max Azouit . Eric Fossat . Francois Martin . Tatiana Sadibekova . Jean Vernin . Aziz Ziad . First whole atmosphere night-time seeing measurements at Dome C, Antarctica . Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific . 2006 . 118. 344–348. astro-ph/0510418 . 2006PASP..118..344A . 10.1086/498728 . 840. 15833099 .
  8. Jon S. Lawrence . Michael C. B. Ashley . Andrei Tokovinin . Tony Travouillon . Exceptional astronomical seeing conditions above Dome C in Antarctica . Nature . 16 September 2004 . 431 . 278–281 . 10.1038/nature02929 . 15372024 . 7006 . 2004Natur.431..278L . 4388419 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060325210146/http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/nature/nature02929.pdf . 25 March 2006 . dmy-all . → FAQ by the authors
  9. , title = "", journal =, keywords =, year = 2009, month = jun, volume = 500, pages =, doi =, adsurl =, adsnote = }
  10. , title = "", journal =, year = 2012, month = may, volume = 124, pages =, doi =, adsurl =, adsnote = }
  11. , title = "", journal =, keywords =, year = 2010, month = jun, volume = 516, eid =, pages =, doi =, adsurl =, adsnote = }
  12. , title = "", journal =, keywords =, year = 2014, month = nov, volume = 148, eid =, pages =, doi =, adsurl =, adsnote = }
  13. Crouzet . Nicolas . Guillot . Tristan . Agabi . Karim . Rivet . Jean-Pierre . Bondoux . Erick . etal . ASTEP South: An Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets around the celestial South pole . Astronomy & Astrophysics . 2009 .
  14. Daban . Jean-Baptiste . Larry M . Stepp . Roberto . Gilmozzi . Helen J . Hall . etal . ASTEP 400: a telescope designed for exoplanet transit detection from Dome C, Antarctica . Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series . Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes III . Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes III . 2010 . 7733 . 77334T . 10.1117/12.854946 . 2010SPIE.7733E..4TD . 122313435 .
  15. News: New year's mission to start new phase of exoplanet research . 28 January 2022 . University of Birmingham . 6 January 2022.
  16. Web site: Vivi con noi la XXIX Spedidione italiana in Antartide. 2014-03-16. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140315185153/http://www.italiantartide.it/spedizioni/xxix/news/news.php?id=262. 15 March 2014. dmy-all.
  17. Web site: Follow MSS13 Adrianos Golemis to the Antarctic Concordia Station. 2014-03-16. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140315201634/http://www.isunet.edu/news-and-media-center-2/1276-follow-mss13-adrianos-golemis-to-the-antarctic-concordia-station. 15 March 2014. dmy-all.
  18. Web site: Paride Legovini's Website. 2014-03-16. dead. https://archive.today/20140315164219/http://paride.legovini.name/. 15 March 2014. dmy-all.
  19. Web site: WAPONLINE > News & Information > Archive 2014 > February 2014. 2014-04-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20140413140421/http://www.waponline.it/NewsInformation/Archive2014/February2014/tabid/352/Default.aspx. 13 April 2014. dead. dmy-all.
  20. Web site: IZ3SUS - Callsign Lookup by QRZ.COM. 2014-04-12.
  21. Web site: Vivi con noi la XXX Spedizione italiana in Antartide. 2015-04-02.
  22. Web site: Concordia: al via la 18a Campagna Invernale . Italiantartide . 13 February 2022.

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