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| '''McMurdo Station''', located at {{coor dm|77|51|S|166|40|E|}}, sits on the southern tip of ] in ], on the shore of ], ] miles (3,500 km) due south of ]. It is located inside New Zealand territory in |
'''McMurdo Station''', located at {{coor dm|77|51|S|166|40|E|}}, sits on the southern tip of ] in ], on the shore of ], ] miles (3,500 km) due south of ]. It is located inside New Zealand territory in Antarctica, called the ]. It serves as the logistics hub for half the continent, and is currently operated by Raytheon Polar Services (a subsidiary of ]). All personnel and cargo going to or coming from ] first pass through McMurdo. | ||
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| ==History== | ==History== | ||
Revision as of 01:54, 5 August 2006
McMurdo Station, located at 77°51′S 166°40′E / 77.850°S 166.667°E / -77.850; 166.667, sits on the southern tip of Ross Island in Antarctica, on the shore of McMurdo Sound, 2,200 miles (3,500 km) due south of New Zealand. It is located inside New Zealand territory in Antarctica, called the Ross Dependency. It serves as the logistics hub for half the continent, and is currently operated by Raytheon Polar Services (a subsidiary of Raytheon). All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo.
History
The station owes its designation to nearby McMurdo Sound, named for Lieutenant Archibald McMurdo of the H.M.S. Terror, which first charted the area in 1841 under the command of British explorer James Clark Ross.
British explorer Robert Falcon Scott first established a base close to this spot (at the location of the current New Zealand base) in 1902 and built Discovery Hut, still standing adjacent to the harbour at Hut Point. The United States established their first station at McMurdo in 1956, initially called Naval Air Facility McMurdo.
Contemporary function
Today, McMurdo Station is Antarctica's largest community and a functional, modern day science station, which includes a harbour, 3 airfields (2 seasonal), a heliport and over 100 buildings, including the Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center and a bowling alley with an antique Brunswick manual pinset machine. The primary focus of the work done at McMurdo Station is science, but most of the summer residents (approximately 1,000 in the summer and fewer than 200 in the winter) are there to provide support for operations, logistics, information technology, construction, and maintenance.
McMurdo Station is about 5 km away from Scott Base, the New Zealand science station, and the entire island is located within New Zealand's Ross Dependency Antarctic claim.
Facilities worthy of note at the station include:
- National Science Foundation Headquarters
- Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center (CSEC)
- Observation Hill
- Discovery Hut, built during Scott's 1901-1903 expedition
- Williams Field airport
- Memorial plaque to three airmen killed in 1946 while surveying the territory.
Recently there has been a large amount of criticism leveled at the base regarding its disposal of untreated refuse, its treatment of non-United States nationals, and its construction projects: in particular the McMurdo-South Pole highway . Despite this, McMurdo (nicknamed "Mac-Town" by its residents) continues to operate as the hub for American activities on the Antarctic continent.
External links
- NSF page on McMurdo
- Virtual Tour - McMurdo Station Antarctica
- Zimbio - McMurdo Station Antarctica
- Life and work at the McMurdo Station - from USA Today
- The Adventures of Sandwich Girl at McMurdo station
- Raytheon Polar Services
- Big Dead Place