Which country has the most polar stations in Antarctica?

Antarctica is the most severe continent of our planet. A polar night lasting several months, extremely low air temperatures, a gale, and transport remoteness from most developed countries made it the most sparsely populated region of the Earth. Despite the obvious difficulties, employees of research stations live and work in Antarctica, which today number almost 90.

In addition to Russia and the United States - eternal rivals in all fields of scientific activity, China, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, India and several other countries have their own stations in Antarctica.

Antarctica is a special continent. There are no state borders, and according to the Antarctica Treaty of 1961, any country has the right to place research stations here.

The first attempts to settle on the continent were made at the beginning of the 20th century. But due to climatic and political difficulties, it was possible to do this only in the 1940s, when the first three stationary research stations belonging to Great Britain were founded.

After the end of World War II, interest in scientific research in Antarctica began to increase and new stations regularly appeared on the icy expanses of the continent. Most of them were located on the coast, where there were more favorable conditions for accommodation and supplies. Following Great Britain, Chile, the USSR, France and the USA appeared their polar stations. The first Soviet station called Mirny was founded in 1956 on the east coast of Antarctica.

To date, there are 89 polar research stations in Antarctica. Some of them are shared between two or three countries. Almost half of these stations, to be more precise, 41, are seasonal, that is, they operate only during the short polar summer. It is understandable, life in Antarctica is too harsh, and the maintenance of a research station is quite expensive.

The largest number of stations is owned by Argentina (14) and Chile (12), located closest to Antarctica and having here not only scientific, but also territorial interests. Russia has 9 polar stations, including the famous Vostok station, where the lowest temperature on the planet was recorded - minus 89.2 degrees. France and the UK each have 6 polar stations, Australia 5, China and Japan 4 scientific bases, and the US only 3. Italy, Spain, Norway and India each have 2 research stations.

Scientists are engaged in meteorological observations, analyze the state of the ice cover, collect data on the wildlife of the Antarctic. There are also special projects related to the study of global processes taking place on our planet. But, despite the large number of polar stations, Antarctica remains the most poorly studied continent of our planet.

Watch the video: Antarctica: Ready for winter. Antarctic winter is coming: research crews prepare Russias stations (April 2024).