The Davis Station, commonly called Davis, is one of three permanent bases and research outposts in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

managed by the

Australian Antarctic Division The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) is a division of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The Division undertakes science programs and research projects to contribute to an understanding of Antarctica and the ...

(AAD). Davis is situated on the coast of

Cooperation Sea Cooperation Sea, also called Commonwealth Sea (erratum) or Sodruzhestvo Sea (russian: Море Содружества), is a proposed sea name for part of the Southern Ocean, between Enderby Land (the eastern limit of which is 59°34'E) and West I ...

Princess Elizabeth Land Princess Elizabeth Land is the sector of Antarctica between longitude 73° east and Cape Penck (at 87°43' east). The sector is claimed by Australia as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, although this claim is not widely recognized. Ge ...

Ingrid Christensen Coast The Ingrid Christensen Coast is that portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between Jennings Promontory, in 72°33′E, and the western end of the West Ice Shelf in 81°24′E. It is located in the western half of Princess Elizabeth Land, just e ...

in the

Australian Antarctic Territory The Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is a part of East Antarctica claimed by Australia as an external territory. It is administered by the Australian Antarctic Division, an agency of the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Env ...

, a

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

claimed by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Davis lies in the

Antarctic oasis An Antarctic oasis is a large area naturally free of snow and ice in the otherwise ice-covered continent of Antarctica. Geology In Antarctica there are, in addition to mountaintops and nunataks, other natural snow- and ice-free areas often r ...

, a remarkable ice free area known as the

Vestfold Hills The Vestfold Hills are rounded, rocky, coastal hills, in extent, on the north side of Sorsdal Glacier on the Ingrid Christensen Coast of Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica. The hills are subdivided by three west-trending peninsulas bounded by na ...

. Davis was named in honour of Captain

John King Davis John King Davis (19 February 1884 – 8 May 1967) was an English-born Australian explorer and navigator notable for his work captaining exploration ships in Antarctic waters as well as for establishing meteorological stations on Macquar ...

. Davis was listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

on 26 October 1999 and has been included on the

Commonwealth Heritage List The Commonwealth Heritage List is a heritage register established in 2003, which lists places under the control of the Australian government, on land or in waters directly owned by the Crown (in Australia, the Crown in right of the Commonwealth ...

as an indicative place, due to the condition of buildings and structures that varies from no longer exists/demolished due to poor condition, through to very good condition.

Purpose

Davis is a base for scientific research programs including the study of viruses and bacteria using molecular genetic techniques in

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

s, the impact of environmental change and pollution on Antarctic marine ecosystems, atmospheric research, measuring algae growth as an important food source for tiny marine herbivores such as zooplankton, the impact of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, including the increasing carbon dioxide concentrations on marine microbes and, together with researchers at Casey, the study of the

Law Dome Law Dome is a large ice dome which rises to directly south of Cape Poinsett, Antarctica. The feature was roughly mapped by the United States Geological Survey from aerial photographs taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47, and has been ...

, the bedrock geology and structure of the East Antarctic ice sheet.

History

The first recorded sighting of the coastline now occupied by Davis Station was on 9 February 1931, during the second

British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition The British Australian (and) New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) was a research expedition into Antarctica between 1929 and 1931, involving two voyages over consecutive Austral summers. It was a British Commonwealth initiative, dr ...

(BANZARE) voyage aboard ''Discovery''. Sir

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader during ...

and Flight Lieutenant Stuart Campbell sighted the Antarctic continent from a seaplane and named the high land to the southeast Princess Elizabeth Land. The first recorded landing in the region was made in 1935 by the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

whaler Captain Klarius Mikkelsen in the vessel ''Thorshavn''. Mikkelsen named the hills after the Vestfold province of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, on the western side of Oslo Fjord, which he considered it resembled, and where the Christensen company's headquarters was located, at the town of Sandefjord. On 20 February 1935, together with his wife and seven crew members (including the ship's dentist, Lief Sørsdal), Mikkelsen landed in a small bay on an unnamed island at the northern end of the Vestfold Hills. Mrs

Caroline Mikkelsen Caroline Mikkelsen (20 November 1906 – 15 September 1998, later married Mandel) was a Danish-Norwegian explorer who on 20 February 1935 was the first woman to set foot on Antarctica, although whether this was on the mainland or an island ...

was the first woman to set foot on the Antarctic continent and the party raised the Norwegian flag on an improvised flagpole and built a rock cairn to mark the site. This cairn was found by members of the

Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE ) is the historical name for the Australian Antarctic Program (AAp) administered for Australia by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). History Australia has had a long involv ...

(ANARE) in 1960 but was lost for many years until its rediscovery in 1995. (As an interesting aside, Caroline Mikkelsen was still living and received word of the rediscovery of the original flag pole.) Captain Mikkelsen named the area "Ingrid Christensen Land" after the wife of the ship's owner,

Lars Christensen Lars Christensen (6 April 1884 – 10 December 1965) was a Norwegian shipowner and whaling magnate. He was also a philanthropist with a keen interest in the exploration of Antarctica. Career Lars Christensen was born at Sandar in Vestfold, Norw ...

. Mrs Christensen was later to land in Antarctica herself - on 30 January 1937, at Scullin Monolith (which the Norwegians called Klarius Mikkelsen Mountain). The ''Thorshavn'' and Klarius Mikkelsen, along with Lars Christensen, were back in the Vestfold Hills area in the 1936–37 summer. An area to the immediate north of the Vestfold Hills was used as a take-off and landing area for a seaplane, from which oblique aerial photos were taken for mapping purposes. The first map of the Vestfold Hills, derived from this imagery, was published after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The next recorded visitors to the area were the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

explorer

Lincoln Ellsworth Lincoln Ellsworth (May 12, 1880 – May 26, 1951) was a polar explorer from the United States and a major benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History. Biography Lincoln Ellsworth was born on May 12, 1880, to James Ellsworth and Eva F ...

and his Australian aircraft pilot and observer, Sir

Hubert Wilkins Sir George Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar (31 October 188830 November 1958), commonly referred to as Captain Wilkins, was an Australian polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer. He was awarded the Military Cross afte ...

in Ellsworth's ship the Wyatt Earp. Despite Wilkins' protestations that Mawson had already claimed the area for Australia, Ellsworth planned to lodge a counter claim for America. In response to this, Wilkins took pre-emptive action and made two landings. The first was on one of the

Rauer Islands The Rauer Islands () are a group of rocky coastal islands which lie between Sorsdal Glacier Tongue and Ranvik Bay, in the southeast part of Prydz Bay. Discovered and roughly charted in February 1935 by a Norwegian expedition under Captain Klari ...

, at 68° 46' South, 77° 50' East on 8 January 1939, and the second on a rocky outcrop at 68° 22' South 70° 33' East on 11 January 1939. At both of these locations he deposited decrees recognising Australia's right to ". . . administrate . . . those parts of His Majesty's dominions in the Antarctic Seas". Along with the decree he left a copy of the famous Australian geographical magazine 'Walkabout". Of three such sites, only the northern cairn has been located and hence the name "Walkabout Rocks". During the U.S. Antarctic explorations that formed a part of "

Operation Highjump Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV. The opera ...

" in 1947 the USS ''Currituck'' visited the area, but no landing took place. As part of Operation Highjump, the Vestfolds and surrounding were extensively photographed from the air. The first

ANARE The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE ) is the historical name for the Australia: Antarctic Program#Australian Antarctic program, Australian Antarctic Program (AAp) administered for Australia by the Australian Antarctic D ...

landing in the Vestfold Hills was made on 3 March 1954 by

Phillip Law Phillip Garth Law, AC, CBE, FAA, FTSE (21 April 1912 – 28 February 2010) was an Australian scientist and explorer who served as director of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) from 1949 to 1966. Early life Law was ...

, Peter Shaw, John Hansen,

Arthur Gwynn Arthur Percival Gwynn (11 June 1874 – 14 February 1898) was an Irish cricketer and rugby union player. Life Arthur Percival Gwynn was born in Ramelton, County Donegal, Ireland, the fifth son of the Very Rev John Gwynn D.D. and Josephi ...

and R. Thompson. They raised the Australian flag at Law Cairn, to the north of Davis Station, but had to return to their ship soon after due to deteriorating weather. On 12 January 1956, members of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Antarctic Expedition landed on the Ingrid Christensen Coast, in preparation for the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; french: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific ...

(1957–58). The Soviets did not stay for long but even today the Russian presence is betrayed by some distinctively Russian names on the map (Lakes Lebed, Zvezda and Druzhby among them) They later established their base at

Mirny Station The Mirny Station (russian: Мирный, literally ''Peaceful'') is a Russian (formerly Soviet) first Antarctic science station located in Queen Mary Land, Antarctica, on the Antarctic coast of the Davis Sea. The station is managed by the Ar ...

, some to the east of Davis. As Phillip Law recalled during a short visit to Davis on 11 January 1998, it was felt that if Australia did not establish a base in the Vestfold Hills the Russians would, and so in 1955 the Australian Government announced that a new station would be established in the Vestfold Hills. A further exploratory visit was made by ANARE in January 1955 that involved two teams traversing much of the Vestfold Hills. During January 1957, an ANARE party led by Dr Phillip Law sailing on the ''Kista Dan'' attempted to locate a suitable site for the station. This proved difficult due to a lack of good ship anchorages and a scarcity of fresh water sources. On 12 January, after two days of attempting to find a suitable site, a last-minute decision was made to locate the station on a small rocky plateau located above a black sandy beach. Unloading began immediately and, on 13 January 1957, a small ceremony was held to officially open the new station. It was named Davis "to honour Captain

, a famous Antarctic navigator and captain . . . at present . . . living in Melbourne, a member of the ANARE Planning Committee". (Law's address on the day). After the ceremony, unloading recommenced and continued until 20 January when the Kista Dan sailed. The Kista Dan made a return visit to Davis later dropping off dogs and one more expeditioner. Bob Dingle, Alan Hawker, Nils Lied, Bill Lucas and Bruce Stinear made up the first party to winter in the Vestfold Hills. The party was not completely isolated however as

Auster Auster Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1938 to 1961.Willis, issue 122, p.55 History The company began in 1938 at the Britannia Works, Thurmaston near Leicester, England, as Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited, ma ...

aircraft flew between

Mawson Station The Mawson Station, commonly called Mawson, is one of three permanent bases and research outposts in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). Mawson lies in Holme Bay in Mac. Robertson Land, East Antarctica in the Austra ...

and Davis several times that year exchanging personnel and supplies. Davis was temporarily closed on 25 January 1965 to make resources available for the rebuilding of

Casey Station Casey Station, commonly called Casey, is one of three permanent stations and research outposts in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). Casey lies on the northern side of the Bailey Peninsula (Antarctica), Bailey Peninsu ...

. It was reopened on 15 February 1969 and has been continuously occupied since that time. The original small huts ("dongas") fell into disuse and disrepair from the late 1970s / early 1980s, with a major rebuilding program. Davis has become the busiest of Australia's Antarctic stations supporting a wide variety of scientific research in both the local and surrounding areas during the summer time. During the winter time, the principal research activity is Upper Atmospheric Physics.

Earth station

Davis is the first Antarctic

Earth stations in Australia A number of historic and current Earth (or ground) stations in Australia are used to communicate and track human-made satellites. Many of the sites are associated with overseas government partnerships established generally with the United Stat ...

, with the first satellite tracking antenna

ANARESAT ANARESAT or ''Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions Satellite'' is a communication solution using Intelsat Geostationary communication satellites to allow Australian Antarctic Division sites to communicate. The installation includes a ...

for communications installed in March 1987. There is also a

Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together ...

satellite tracking station for a weather satellite, Himawari-8 located there. After numerous upgrades since installation, the ANARESAT facility is able to provide the station with a 9Mbps link back to the mainland. This allows for the real time transfer of scientific data as well as support for telemedicine and video calls for expeditioners.

Climate

Davis Station experiences a

tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. undra climate https://www.britannica.com/science/tundra-climateThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019 It is classified as ET according to Köppen ...

(Köppen ''ET''); the temperature is moderated by its proximity to the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

References

External links