U.S. STATIONS AND CAMPS IN ANTARCTICA

The largest Antarctic station, established in December 1955, is McMurdo Station (77 degrees 51'S 166 degrees 40'E).  This station, the logistics hub of the U.S. Antarctic Program, is built on the bare volcanic rock of Hut Point Peninsula on Ross Island, the farthest south solid ground that is accessible by ship.

Its 85 or so buildings range in size from a small radio shack to large, three-story structures. Repair facilities, dormitories, administrative buildings, a firehouse, power plant, water distillation plant, wharf, stores, clubs, and warehouses are linked by above-ground water, sewer, telephone, and power lines.

Local features include Mount Erebus (an active volcano), McMurdo Sound (the station's namesake, named for Lt. Archibald McMurdo of James Clark Ross's 1841 expedition), the Ross Ice Shelf, and the ice-free (dry) valleys of southern Victoria Land.

At the very bottom of the world, the scientists of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (90 degrees S) conduct research that includes glaciology, geophysics, meteorology, upper atmosphere physics, astronomy, astrophysics, and biomedical studies. The station's name honors Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott, who attained the South Pole in 1911 and 1912.

Palmer Station (64 degrees 46'S 64 degrees 03'W) situated on a protected harbor on the southwestern coast of Anvers Island, off the Antarctica Peninsula, is the only U.S. antarctic station north of the Antarctic Circle. Designated by the National Science Foundation as a long term ecological research (LTER) site,

Palmer Station is ideally located for biological studies of birds, seals, and other components of the marine ecosystem, meteorology, upper atmosphere physics, glaciology, and geology. Palmer Station is named for Nathaniel B. Palmer, a Connecticut sealer who, in 1820, may have been the first person to see Antarctica. (British and Russian ships were in the area at about the same time.)

In addition to the stations, a range of camps conduct research in the field.  On the site of the former Byrd Station, Byrd Surface Camp is operated during the summer as a fuel stop and weather station for planes flying between McMurdo and destinations in West Antarctica. Typical summer population is eight personnel. The camp consists of sled-mounted modules.

Operation Deep Freeze

Operation Deep Freeze represents the U.S. military’s support of science and research activities conducted by the U.S. Antarctic Program under the direction of the National Science Foundation (NSF).  Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica (JTF-SFA) involves Air Force, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Command, Army, Navy, and Coast Guard personnel.

U.S. Air Force aircraft which support JTF-SFA include propeller driven LC-130s, operated by the New York Air National Guard’s 109^th Airlift Wing, and the C-17 Globemasters, operated by the 62^nd and 446^th Airlift Wings, McChord Air Force Base, WA.  The LC-130, equipped with skis for snow and ice landings, is used for heavy airlift and Containerized Delivery System airdrop throughout Antarctica.  The bigger C-17 is used for long-range transport of people, equipment and supplies between Christchurch, New Zealand and McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

Christchurch International Airport is the staging point for deployment to McMurdo Station, the central base of operations for all Antarctic programs conducted on the Pacific side of Antarctica and support of the U.S. Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole.

--Gleened from information published by the 13th Air Force Office of Public Affairs

Initial training and familiariztion, Scotia, NY, July 2010.  Note the Skis on the front of this LC-130

When landing gear is lowered, the skis come down first. 

In another configuration, the skis raise back up to allow landing on the wheels.