Esperanza Base
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Esperanza Base Base Esperanza |
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All-civilian Antarctic base | ||
View of Esperanza Base, January 2012
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Motto: Spanish: Permanencia, un acto de sacrificio ("Permanence, an act of sacrifice") |
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Location within Antarctica | ||
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Country | ![]() |
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Region | Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula | |
Location | Hope Bay, Trinity Peninsula | |
Established | 1953 | |
Named for | Spanish: Base Esperanza, ("Hope Base") | |
Government[lower-alpha 1] | ||
• Type | Directorate | |
• Body | Argentine National Antarctic Directorate | |
Area | ||
• Urban[lower-alpha 2] | 0.3744 ha (0.9252 acres) | |
Elevation | 25 m (82 ft) | |
Population (2014) | 55 | |
Status | Active and operational all year-round |
Esperanza base (Spanish: Base Esperanza, "Hope Base") is a permanent, all year-round Argentine research station in Hope Bay, Trinity Peninsula (Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula). It is one of only two civilian settlements on Antarctica (the other being the Chilean Villa Las Estrellas). The Base's motto is "Permanencia, un acto de sacrificio" ("Permanence, an act of sacrifice").
Contents
Description
Built in 1953,[1][2][3] the base houses 55 inhabitants in winter, including 10 families and 2 school teachers. Provincial school #38 Presidente Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (formerly named Julio Argentino Roca) was founded in 1978 and acquired independent status in 1997. It maintains the furthest South Scout troop. The base has some measure of fame because it is the birthplace of Emilio Marcos Palma, the first person to be born in Antarctica. The base has tourist facilities that are visited by about 1,100 tourists each year. The LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel radio station started transmitting in 1979. A wind generator was installed in 2008, mounted by INVAP. video
The 43 buildings of the station have a combined space of 3,744 square metres (40,300 sq ft) covered;[4] 18,000 litres (4,800 US gal) of fuel are used annually by the four generators to produce electricity for the station. Research projects include: glaciology, seismology, oceanography, coastal ecology, biology, geology, and limnology.
Historic site
A group of items or structures of historic significance at, or close to, the base have been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 40), following a proposal by Argentina to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. These comprise a bust of General San Martin, a grotto with a statue of the Virgin of Lujan, a flagpole erected in 1955, and a cemetery with a stele commemorating Argentine expedition members who died in the area.[5]
Climate
The mean temperatures are −5.5 °C (22.1 °F) and range throughout the year from −10.8 °C (12.6 °F) in winter to 0.2 °C (32.4 °F) in summer. The presence of two months with temperature means just barely above freezing means the climate is classified as an polar tundra (ET) climate in the Köppen system. The temperature trend since 1948 is +0.0315 °C/yr (+0.0567 °F/yr) (annual), +0.0413 °C/yr (+0.0743 °F/yr) (winter) and +0.0300 °C/yr (+0.0540 °F/yr) (summer). The highest temperature recorded was 17.5 °C (63.5 °F) on 24 March 2015.[6]
Climate data for Esperanza (extremes 1945–present) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 14.9 (58.8) |
15.5 (59.9) |
17.5 (63.5) |
15.9 (60.6) |
14.0 (57.2) |
17.1 (62.8) |
14.0 (57.2) |
13.0 (55.4) |
11.4 (52.5) |
17.0 (62.6) |
14.3 (57.7) |
14.6 (58.3) |
17.5 (63.5) |
Average high °C (°F) | 3.1 (37.6) |
2.6 (36.7) |
−0.4 (31.3) |
−3.4 (25.9) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
−6.6 (20.1) |
−6.4 (20.5) |
−6.2 (20.8) |
−2.7 (27.1) |
0.3 (32.5) |
1.3 (34.3) |
3.2 (37.8) |
−1.7 (28.9) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 0.5 (32.9) |
−0.5 (31.1) |
−3.1 (26.4) |
−7.3 (18.9) |
−9.6 (14.7) |
−10.9 (12.4) |
−10.8 (12.6) |
−10.5 (13.1) |
−7.0 (19.4) |
−3.6 (25.5) |
−1.7 (28.9) |
0.4 (32.7) |
−5.3 (22.5) |
Average low °C (°F) | −1.8 (28.8) |
−2.9 (26.8) |
−6.4 (20.5) |
−11.1 (12) |
−13.4 (7.9) |
−15.1 (4.8) |
−15.0 (5) |
−14.7 (5.5) |
−11.1 (12) |
−7.4 (18.7) |
−4.6 (23.7) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
−8.8 (16.2) |
Record low °C (°F) | −8.5 (16.7) |
−13.2 (8.2) |
−20.9 (−5.6) |
−26.0 (−14.8) |
−29.6 (−21.3) |
−30.0 (−22) |
−38.4 (−37.1) |
−32.0 (−25.6) |
−32.6 (−26.7) |
−23.2 (−9.8) |
−18.0 (−0.4) |
−9.7 (14.5) |
−38.4 (−37.1) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 56.2 (2.213) |
65.0 (2.559) |
75.5 (2.972) |
59.1 (2.327) |
54.4 (2.142) |
47.4 (1.866) |
54.1 (2.13) |
72.1 (2.839) |
62.2 (2.449) |
56.4 (2.22) |
65.0 (2.559) |
59.0 (2.323) |
726.4 (28.598) |
Average snowy days | 16 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 181 |
Source #1: Servicio Meteorologico Nacional,[7] Meteo Climat (record highs and lows excluding March record high)[8] | |||||||||||||
Source #2: Weatherbase[9] |
Notes
- ↑ Operated by Argentine Antarctic Institute
- ↑ Indoors area
References
- ↑ Interview with General Leal by the Meeting channel
- ↑ official site
- ↑ ESPERANZA at marambio.aq
- ↑ Google Earth satellite images
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Further reading
- Antarctica. Sydney: Reader's Digest, 1985, p. 156-157.
- Child, Jack. Antarctica and South American Geopolitics: Frozen Lebensraum. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1988, p. 73.
- Lonely Planet, Antarctica: a Lonely Planet Travel Survival Kit, Oakland, CA: Lonely Planet Publications, 1996, 302-304.
- Stewart, Andrew, Antarctica: An Encyclopedia. London: McFarland and Co., 1990 (2 volumes), p. 469.
- U.S. National Science Foundation, Geographic Names of the Antarctic, Fred G. Alberts, ed. Washington: NSF, 1980.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Esperanza Station. |
- Articles needing translation from foreign-language Wikipedias
- Articles containing Spanish-language text
- Commons category link is locally defined
- Articles with Spanish-language external links
- Outposts of Antarctica
- Argentine Antarctica
- Outposts of Graham Land
- Populated places established in 1953
- Trinity Peninsula
- Historic Sites and Monuments of Antarctica
- Tourism in Antarctica
- Cemeteries in Antarctica