Antarctica -- October-November 2010

I believe this photo shows all of the large structures at this old station except for the airplane hanger, which is off to the left hand side of this photo (north). There were several items on shore that are too small to show up at this distance. One was a boat (shown in later photo). Another was a vehicle that looked like a road grader or snowplow, wihich may have been used for the airstrip.

This was the largest set of ruins that we saw. I suspect pretty much all of the abandoned structures and equipment are still there (but some may have been covered with ice and snow -- and here, mudslides). The oldest structures are probalby only a bit more than 100 years old. Also, the climate probably creates a refrigerator effect, which slows the rate at which wood decays. We were told to not enter any of the buildings.

Knowing how things work, I imagine bases, structures, etc. are removed nowadays when they are abandoned, due to environmental regulations under the Antarctic Treaty (before they get old enough to be classed as historic, as there are, I believe). However, we saw at least one uninhabited closed-up structure (on Petermann Island) that was called an emergency refuge. I wonder if that's a way of delaying having to remove the structure.

(26 Nov 2010)