Brazilian Antarctica ( pt, Antártida Brasileira or ''Antártica Brasileira'') is the
Antarctic
The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...
territory south of
60°S, and from
28°W to
53°W, proposed as "Zone of Interest" by geopolitical scholar Therezinha de Castro. While the substance of that designation has never been precisely defined, it does not formally contradict the
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
and
British claims geographically overlapping with that zone (the zone shares a border but does not overlap with the
Chilean Antarctic Territory
The Chilean Antarctic Territory or Chilean Antarctica (Spanish: ''Territorio Chileno Antártico'', ''Antártica Chilena'') is the territory in Antarctica claimed by Chile. The Chilean Antarctic Territory ranges from 53° West to 90° West and f ...
to its west). The country formally expressed its reservations with respect to its territorial rights in Antarctica when it acceded to the
Antarctic Treaty
russian: link=no, Договор об Антарктике es, link=no, Tratado Antártico
, name = Antarctic Treaty System
, image = Flag of the Antarctic Treaty.svgborder
, image_width = 180px
, caption ...
on 16 May 1975, making the first official mention of the Frontage Theory, which states (simplified) that sovereignty over each point in Antarctica properly belongs to the first country whose non-Antarctic territory one would reach when travelling north in a straight line from such a point. The Frontage Theory (''Teoria da Defrontação'') was proposed by Brazilian geopolitical scholar Therezinha de Castro and published in her book ''Antártica: Teoria da Defrontação''.
Outside the zone of interest, Brazil maintains a permanently staffed research facility, the
Comandante Ferraz Brazilian Antarctic Base
The Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station ( pt, Estação Antártica Comandante Ferraz) is a permanent Antarctic research station named after the Brazilian Navy Commander Luís Antônio de Carvalho Ferraz (1940-1982), who visited Antarctica many t ...
(
UN/LOCODE
UN/LOCODE, the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations, is a geographic coding scheme developed and maintained by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). UN/LOCODE assigns codes to locations used in trade and transpor ...
: AQ-CFZ), located in
Admiralty Bay,
King George Island, near the tip of the
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...
, at . The peninsula is the northernmost, most accessible, and warmest part of the Antarctic continent and a number of countries, therefore, have research bases located on it.
History
In 1982 the
Brazilian government
The politics of Brazil take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The political and administrative or ...
launched their first Antarctic expedition, and a year later built their first base (named
Comandante Ferraz, for a deceased naval officer active in Antarctica), which has been active year-round since then. Despite their status as newcomers, Brazilian geopolitical writers have had considerable influence on the nation's Antarctic policies (especially during the period of military dictatorship under a series of unelected general/presidents from
1964 to 1985), although there is not a national Brazilian Antarctic consciousness similar to that of
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
.
In February 1991,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Fernando Collor de Mello
Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Coll ...
reaffirmed Brazil's interest in the region by visiting the Brazilian Antarctic base, where he spent three days. He was the first Brazilian president to set foot in the Antarctic.
In January 2008, 13
congressmen
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
members of the Brazilian Antarctica Parliamentary Committee visited the Brazilian Antarctic base. Another visit by the members of
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
took place in January 2009.
On February 16, 2008, President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party, ...
and a delegation of twenty-three people, including the First Lady
Marisa Letícia, visited the country's base in Antarctica. The Brazilian Government defined the presidential trip as a "political gesture" in support of the work displayed by Brazilian scientists and military personnel.
In 2009 Brazil made its first national scientific expedition to the
Antarctic ice sheet
The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the two polar ice caps of Earth. It covers about 98% of the Antarctic continent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth, with an average thickness of over 2 kilometers. It covers an area of almost and ...
.
[ Brazil: 2009/2010 Annual Information (Brazilian National Multidisciplinary Expedition to the Antarctic Ice Sheet: investigating the cryospheric response to global changes)](_blank)
Antarctic Treaty System
russian: link=no, Договор об Антарктике es, link=no, Tratado Antártico
, name = Antarctic Treaty System
, image = Flag of the Antarctic Treaty.svgborder
, image_width = 180px
, caption ...
. Retrieved on 2010-10-23. The expedition integrated
atmospheric
An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...
,
glaciological,
geological
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...
and
geophysical
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
studies along the
Patriot Hills
Patriot Hills () is a line of rock hills 5 nautical miles (9 km) long, located 3 nautical miles (6 km) east of the north end of Independence Hills in Horseshoe Valley, Heritage Range, Western Antarctica.
To the north of Patriot Hills ...
area and also along the
subglacial lake
A subglacial lake is a lake that is found under a glacier, typically beneath an ice cap or ice sheet. Subglacial lakes form at the boundary between ice and the underlying bedrock, where gravitational pressure decreases the pressure melting point ...
Ellsworth area.
A second expedition is scheduled for early November 2011, when researchers will install a monitoring station (advanced outpost) from the
Geographic South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...
and from the Comandante Ferraz Brazilian Antarctic Base (EACF).
In the early morning of February 25, 2012, with 60 people at the base, a fire started by an estimated unjustified explosion in the Praça das Máquinas, where the station's power generators are located. As it was linked to the rest of the facilities, the fire spread. A boatswain (Carlos Alberto Vieira Figueredo) and a first sergeant (Roberto Lopes dos Santos) were killed because they could not leave the site and a
sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
was injured but was taken alive to the Polish station where he received first aid and was later transferred to a Chilean base.
In 2020, Brazil opened a new research facility, 8 years after fire destroyed the previous one.
Science Magazine: "Brazil opens spectacular new research base in Antarctica" 13 Jan. 2020
/ref>
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Castro, Therezinha. ''"Antárctica: Assunto do Momento". Revista de Clube Militar'' (Brazil), 1958.
* Castro, Therezinha. ''Atlas-Texto de Geopolítica do Brasil''. Rio de Janeiro: Capemi Editora, 1982.
* Child, Jack. ''Antarctica and South American Geopolitics: Frozen Lebensraum''. New York: Praeger, 1988, Chapter 6.
* Coelho, Aristides Pinto. ''"Novas tendências". Boletim Antártico'', no. 4, Jan 1985.
* Dodds, Klaus. ''Geopolitics in Antarctica : views from the Southern Oceanic Rim''. Chichester ; New York : Published in association with Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge by J. Wiley, 1997.
* Moneta, Carlos J., ed. ''La Antártida en el Sistema Internacional del Futuro''. Buenos Aires: Grupo Editor Lationoamericano, 1988.
* Schmied, Julie. ''La Política Antárctica de los Países Latinoamericanos''. Madrid: Instituto de Cuestiones Internacionales, 1988.
Map showing Brazilian Antarctica
Antarctica, But Sliced Differently
* W.L. de Freitas
Colégio Interamericano de Defesa, Washington, D.C.
External links
Brazilian Antarctica Parliamentary Committee
Official website
National Meteorology Center at the Com. Ferraz Antarctic Station
- Live webcams and weather data from the Brazilian Antarctic Base.
* ttp://www.geografia.fflch.usp.br/graduacao/apoio/Apoio/Apoio_Conti/Antartida.PDF Teoria de Defrontação
{{Brazil topics