Matienzo Base ( es, Base Aérea Teniente Benjamín Matienzo, or more often ''Base Matienzo'' or ''Estación Matienzo'') is an Argentine Antarctic base and scientific

research station Research stations are facilities where scientific investigation, collection, analysis and experimentation occurs. A research station is a facility that is built for the purpose of conducting scientific research. There are also many types of resea ...

named after

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

Benjamín Matienzo, an Argentine aviation pioneer. It is located in Larsen Nunatak, one of the Foca Nunataks, in

Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee an ...

, Antarctic Peninsula. Matienzo is one of 13 research bases in Antarctica operated by Argentina. From 1961 to 1985 it served as a permanent base; since then it is open during the summer season only.

History

Matienzo was founded as ''Lieutenant Matienzo'' Joint Base ( es, Base Conjunta Teniente Matienzo) on 15 March 1961 as a joint effort between the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...

and the

Argentine Air Force "Argentine Wings" , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 August (anniversary) 1 May (Baptism of fire during the Falklands War) , equipment = 139 aircraft , equipment_label = , battles = * Operation Independence * Operation Soberanía * Falkl ...

. Under the command of then Captain Ignacio Carro, several aircraft and

tracked vehicle Continuous track is a system of vehicle propulsion used in tracked vehicles, running on a continuous band of treads or track plates driven by two or more wheels. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the weight of the vehicle ...

s were employed to transport more than of cargo from

Esperanza Esperanza is the Spanish word for hope, and may refer to: Places Philippines * Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, a municipality * Esperanza, Masbate, a municipality * Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat, a municipality United States * Esperanza, Mississippi, ...

. At the end of 1962 Matienzo was the launch site for the first major Air Force operation in the Antarctic. In what was called '' Operación Sur'' ("Operation South"), a

Douglas C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...

(TA-33) commanded by then Captain Mario Luis Olezza took off from the base trying to reach the

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 then land on McMurdo Station. This first attempt failed due to a fire in the airplane's engines. The plan could only materialize in 1965. On 15 November 1963 the base was transferred under exclusive command of the Air Force, and renamed as ''Destacamento Aeronáutico Teniente Matienzo'' ("Lieutenant Matienzo Aeronautical Detachment"), The Air Force kept a number of planes for exclusive service of the base. During 1964 an extensive program of meteorological and

climatological Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of study ...

observations was fulfilled: it included studying the glaciological profile across the Matienzo–Esperanza route and the coastal channel route between the

Robertson Island Robertson Island is an ice-covered island, long in a northwest-southeast direction and wide, lying at the east end of the Seal Nunataks off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Captain Carl Anton Larsen discovered Robertson Island fr ...

and the 72° 30' S position. Also,

topographic Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scien ...

and aerial photographic surveys of the

Larsen Ice Shelf The Larsen Ice Shelf is a long ice shelf in the northwest part of the Weddell Sea, extending along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula from Cape Longing to Smith Peninsula. It is named after Captain Carl Anton Larsen, the master of the No ...

were made. In 1965 two Gamma Centauro sounding rockets developed by the Argentine Air Force and two high altitude balloons carrying instruments for

x-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

measurements where launched from the base, under collaboration with the

University of Tucumán A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

and the Instituto de Investigaciones Aeronáuticas y Espaciales. That year the base name was changed to the present one. On 29 July 1968 a Beaver P-05 took off from Matienzo with the mission of assisting a critically ill medical patient in the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Base "F" on the

Argentine Islands The Argentine Islands are a group of islands in the Wilhelm Archipelago of Antarctica, situated southwest of Petermann Island, and northwest of Cape Tuxen on Kyiv Peninsula in Graham Land. They were discovered by the French Antarctic Expeditio ...

. Amidst very bad weather, the aircraft crashed without casualties and the evacuation had to be delayed until the

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

ARA ''General San Martín'' could finally take over and succeed with the mission. Matienzo stayed closed through the 1972–1973 campaign, and was reopened on 8 September 1974; it was closed again for the 1984–1985 campaign and reopened once again, although it has been a summer-only base ever since.

Description

Matienzo is composed of 6 buildings and includes facilities such as: main and emergency houses, airstrip, helipad, fuel platform, central power station with two Antarctic

gas oil Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), ...

generators, waste treatment plant, laboratory, freezing chamber, a warehouse and several deposits. The long airstrip is located over a nearby

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

away, and is usable by all kind of ski-mounting aircraft. The snow-covered helipad is south from the base; several Bell 212 helicopters are used for deployment and supply of scientific personnel. Matienzo also has a basic infirmary attended by a

paramedic A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...

. Periodically a

Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restart ...

aircraft deals with the transfer of personnel and cargo, as well as waste evacuation. The base actively manages preservation and restoration of the surrounding environment; garbage and waste is removed, concentrated, classified, packaged and compacted for later disposal in the Argentine mainland.

Scientific activity

Scientists at Matienzo carry out meteorological,

ionospheric The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays a ...

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

and

snow science Snow science addresses how snow forms, its distribution, and processes affecting how snowpacks change over time. Scientists improve storm forecasting, study global snow cover and its effect on climate, glaciers, and water supplies around the worl ...

observations; they perform aerial photographic surveys and studies on

geology 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 Ea ...

and

geophysics 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'' so ...

involving high precision gravity and magnetism measurements. Scientific and technical staff of the Argentine Antarctic Institute uses part of its facilities for winter–spring activities. The base is the launching point for expeditions to the Larsen Ice Shelf and Jason Peninsula. Staff of the National Meteorological Service commissioned at Matienzo keeps track of the masses of ice,

solar radiation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre ( ...

and atmospheric parameters. Retreat and collapse of the Larsen Ice Shelf is constantly monitored by analyzing satellite imagery,

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

positioning and terrain data to investigate the ice-climate interactions in critical areas under

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 ...

conditions.

Climate

The median annual temperature at the base is ; the highest temperature ever recorded was on 16 March 1965, and the lowest, on 5 August 1964.

References

External links