Mawson-Station

- 67.59972222222262.883055555556Koordinaten: 67 ° 35 ' 59 " S, 62 ° 52' 59" O

The Mawson station (English Mawson Station ) is one of the Australian Government Authority Australian Antarctic Division (AAD ) operated year round research station in Antarctica. It was, as the first base of Australia established in 1954 at the suggestion of Phillip Law, the then Director of the Authority on the Antarctic continent and the first permanent station was south of the Arctic Circle. It was named after the British polar explorer Sir Douglas Mawson, who until 1914 headed the first Australian Antarctic Expedition of 1911. With the construction of Australia renewed its territorial claims on the continent.

Location

The station is located on an isolated rocky outcrop the coast of Mac Robertson Land on the eastern edge of the Antarctic Plateau. The location at the Holme Bay was chosen mainly because of the ice-free in summer access. The buildings of the research station located on the sloping land behind the Andockanlagen, the so-called Horseshoe Harbour.

History

The expeditions of Sir Douglas Mawson

The coast and mountains of the Mac Robertson Land were discovered by Douglas Mawson during the 1929-1931 enduring British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition ( BANZARE ) from his ship RRS Discovery from. He named the area after the industrialist Macpherson Robertson (1859-1945), who had sponsored the expedition financially sustainable. Mawson claimed the land for the British Crown in possession. At the same time, Norwegian whalers developed on behalf of the magnate Lars Christensen, the area, which today bear witness to several geographical names. The second part of the expedition led Mawson early 1931 back to the coast of Mac Robertson Land, and on 18 February 1931, he became the first man in this part of East Antarctica at Cape Bruce ashore.

Renewed raids on the continent

After the end of World War II, the Australian government took up the tradition of the geographical and hydrographical research of Mawson's expedition again, and the Australian Department of External Affairs organized under the leadership of the newly established Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions ( ANARE ) three polar expeditions. Goal of this undertaking was the establishment of two research stations on the islands of Heard and Macquarie and the search for a suitable location at George V. Coast to build a permanent station on the Antarctic continent. Apart from the scientific aspect also Australia's territorial claim should be confirmed with the construction of the stations.

In the summer of 1947/48 the first two stations could be taken on Heard and Macquarie in operation. The plan to open up from there and the Antarctic mainland, but had to be abandoned after the research ship HMAS Wyatt Earp had proved unsuitable for a ride through the pack ice. In subsequent years, the expenses for the operation of the two existing stations dropped all efforts of the Antarctic Division for the step dwindle to the continent.

Construction of the station

Not until 1953 that attacked Phillip Law, the then director of the Australian Antarctic Division, the idea again. On the basis of aerial photographs of the American Polar Expedition Operation High Jump in the summer of 1946/47, and Norwegian maps he identified the located in the Mac Robertson Land Horseshoe Harbour as the best location for a year-round research station operated. The decisive factor was the position of the zone of the northern lights and the proximity to the existing supply routes for the station on Heard. After Law had received the grant for a small expedition, he went on 4 February 1954 in Melbourne aboard the Danish icebreaker Kista Dan and started toward Antarctica. After a stopover on the island Heard the ship reached the selected point on 13 February 1954. Law hoisted on the rocky coast of the Australian flag and gave the place in honor of the most important Australian polar explorer Sir Douglas Mawson the name Mawson Station. Than ten days later, the expedition set off again, three barracks were erected. A ten-member group under the leadership of Robert Dover's stayed behind to spend the winter in the station and to build the core of the base. By the end of the year, two more buildings were added.

Competing claims of ownership of the UK, Chile and Argentina drew the Antarctic Peninsula in the center of the polar activities of these countries. Thus, the Mawson station developed - until 1957 the only basis in this part of East Antarctica - the starting point for exploring the coast east of the Amery Ice Shelf and the westerly Enderbylandes, as well as for the development of the Antarctic hinterland. The construction of an aircraft hangar, the first of the Continent, in 1956, allowed the exploration of the Lambert Glacier and the Prince Charles Mountains from the air. By the end of 1957, 26 buildings were erected, nine years later, there were more than 50

Hardware

In 2003, two wind turbines from the German manufacturer Enercon have been installed at the Mawson station to reduce diesel consumption in the power supply of the research facility significantly. The two wind turbines of the type Enercon E- 30 each 300 kW nominal power and 30 m rotor diameter and maintained by the staff of the research station itself.