Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, also Base Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, or shortly Bernardo O'Higgins, named after

Bernardo O'Higgins Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (; August 20, 1778 – October 24, 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque-Spanish and Irish ancestry. Alth ...

, is a permanently staffed

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

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 ...

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 cont ...

and the capital of Antártica Commune. It lies at , at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of 13 m, about 30 km south-west of Prime Head, the northernmost point of the Antarctic Peninsula, at Cape Legoupil.

History

The base was established on 18 February 1948 by the Chilean Antarctic Expedition, and is one of the Antarctic bases with the longest times of continuous operation. The winter population is 16, and the peak population in the Antarctic summer is usually 44, although up to 60 persons can be accommodated. The base is operated by the Chilean Army. It is also known as ''Puerto Covadonga'' after the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

on which it is located. The German Antarctic Receiving Station (GARS) was established at O'Higgins in 1991 by the DLR. It is a

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

ground station sited in Antarctica to enable reception of data from satellite-based sensors within the south polar region that might otherwise be lost. High

bandwidth Bandwidth commonly refers to: * Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range * Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...

sensors such as SAR generate too much data to be stored on board the satellite for transmission to ground stations elsewhere. GARS was sited at O'Higgins because of the

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 ...

, infrastructure and accessibility of the base. Three dozen

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

cases were reported on the research base on December 22, 2020. These are the first reported cases on the continent.

Historic site

The O’Higgins Historic Site on Cape Legoupil comprises structures of historical significance: * The original base was established on 18 February 1948 by the President of the Republic of Chile,

Gabriel González Videla Gabriel Enrique González Videla (; November 22, 1898 – August 22, 1980) was a Chilean politician and lawyer who served as the 24th president of Chile from 1946 to 1952. He had previously been a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 193 ...

, the first head of state in the world to visit Antarctica. * The Capitán General Bernardo O ́Higgins Riquelme

Bust Bust commonly refers to: * A woman's breasts * Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders * An arrest Bust may also refer to: Places * Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France *Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically Media * ''Bust'' (magazin ...

was erected in 1948 opposite the base. * A

plaque Plaque may refer to: Commemorations or awards * Commemorative plaque, a plate or tablet fixed to a wall to mark an event, person, etc. * Memorial Plaque (medallion), issued to next-of-kin of dead British military personnel after World War I * Pl ...

was erected on 12 August 1957 in memory of Lieutenants Oscar Inostroza Contreras and Sergio Ponce Torrealba. * The Virgen del Carmen Grotto, near the base, was built in the early 1970s to serve as a place of spiritual withdrawal for the staff of various Antarctic stations and expeditions. It was designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 37), following a proposal by Chile to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

Climate

Bernardo O'Higgins Base experiences a borderline polar tundra climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''ET'') that is extremely close to a polar

ice cap climate An ice cap climate is a polar climate where no mean monthly temperature exceeds . The climate covers areas in or near the high latitudes (65° latitude) to polar regions (70–90° north and south latitude), such as Antarctica, some of the northe ...

(

''EF''). Average annual precipitation amounts to , and is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year, typically peaking marginally during the austral spring. Temperatures are frigid all year round; the warmest month is January with an average monthly temperature of , while the coldest month is July with an average monthly temperature of .

Notes

References

External links

Base General Bernardo O'Higgins

Official website Instituto Antartico Chileno

Antarktis Station
a personal website about life at GARS O'Higgins.
COMNAP Antarctic Facilities

COMNAP Antarctic Facilities Map
Gabriel Gonzalez Videla-Antartica