Scott Base is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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 ...

research station at Pram Point on

Ross Island Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound. Ross Island lies within the boundaries of Ross Dependency, an area of Antarctica claimed by New ...

near

Mount Erebus Mount Erebus () is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley), the highest active volcano in Antarctica, and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It is the sixth-highest ultra mountain on the continent. With a summ ...

in New Zealand's

Ross Dependency The Ross Dependency is a region of Antarctica defined by a sector originating at the South Pole, passing along longitudes 160° east to 150° west, and terminating at latitude 60° south. It is claimed by New Zealand, a claim accepted only b ...

territorial claim. It was named in honour of Captain

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

, RN, leader of two

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, ...

expeditions to the

Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who ...

area of Antarctica. The base was set up as support to field research and the centre for research into

earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

s, and now conducts research in many fields, operated by Antarctica New Zealand. The base is from the larger U.S.

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...

via Pegasus Road.

History

Scott Base was originally constructed in support of the UK inspired and privately managed

Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) of 1955–1958 was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole. It was the first expedition to reach the South ...

(TAE). The New Zealand government provided support for the TAE and also for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) project of 1957, five of whose members were attached to the Expedition. In February 1956, 10 months before the TAE and IGY parties were due to head to the Antarctic, Frank Ponder, an architect at the

Ministry of Works (New Zealand) The New Zealand Ministry of Works and Development, formerly the Department of Public Works and often referred to as the Public Works Department or PWD, was founded in 1876 and disestablished and privatised in 1988. The Ministry had its own Cabi ...

, was given the task of designing the base. Ponder's design consisted of six main buildings and three smaller scientific labs. The main buildings were to be placed at least 7 metres apart because of fire risk but were linked to one another by a covered way of galvanised iron. Three New Zealand observers who were also given the task of selecting the site for a base went to

McMurdo Sound McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica. It is the southernmost navigable body of water in the world, and is about from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841, and named it after Lt. Archibald McMurdo ...

with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze (OpDFrz or ODF) is codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There w ...

I" in the summer of 1955. After evaluating possible sites, a location near

Butter Point Butter Point is located in McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. This area at the mouth of the Ferrar Glacier is straight across the sound from cape Evans. Discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition 1901–1904, and named because the Ferrar ...

was chosen. This was later changed to Pram Point as it provided better access for offloading supplies from the Expedition ship HMNZS ''Endeavour'' and also allowed for the operation of the critical RNZAF Antarctic Flight on a nearby ice runway. The base looks out over what is now known as Haskell Strait. Scott Base passed over to

New Zealand Government , background_color = #012169 , image = New Zealand Government wordmark.svg , image_size=250px , date_established = , country = New Zealand , leader_title = Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern , appointed = Governor-General , main_organ = , ...

ownership via the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), on 5 March 1958, at the conclusion of the TAE. During the IGY the United States facility at Hut Point did not operate as a scientific base. It was the New Zealand expedition’s responsibility to furnish the important scientific data (auroral, ionospheric, seismic, etc.), linking the McMurdo area research activities with those of the United States Pole Station and the joint United States–New Zealand station at

Cape Hallett Cape Hallett is a snow-free area ( Antarctic oasis) on the northern tip of the Hallett Peninsula on the Ross Sea coast of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Cape Adare lies to the north. History In 1956, during Operation Deep Freeze II, was dama ...

Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau. It ...

Scientific research and expansion

In 1958, following completion of the TAE and IGY, New Zealand made the decision to continue to operate Scott Base for scientific research, much of which depends upon the continuity of recorded data over a period of years. In order to maintain operations, a base rebuilding programme began in 1976. As of 2008, the only original building is the TAE 'A' mess hut, which contains material recording New Zealand's involvement in Antarctica since 1957. In 2005 the two-story high Hillary Field Centre was commissioned, increasing the floor area of Scott Base by 1800 square metres and providing work areas to support field parties as well as additional office space. The building was officially opened by then-Foreign Minister

Phil Goff Philip Bruce Goff (born 22 June 1953) is a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 No ...

and

Sir Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropy, philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became th ...

. The leader of Scott Base for the 1964–65 season, Adrian Hayter, published a personal memoir of his experience. Hayter, Adrian. The Year of the Quiet Sun: One year at Scott Base, Antarctica: a personal impression. Hadder and Stoughton, 1968, London, p. 76 He was preceded as Leader by Russell Rawle and followed by Mike Prebble. These three leaders are commemorated with Rawle Glacier,

Mount Hayter Mount Hayter is a peak in Antarctica, high, standing southeast of Laird Plateau on the west side of Olson Neve. It was seen by the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (1964–65) and named for Adrian Hayter, leader at Scott Ba ...

and

Prebble Glacier Lennox-King Glacier is a large valley glacier, about long, draining Bowden Névé and flowing northeast between the Holland Range and the Queen Alexandra Range of Antarctica to enter Richards Inlet, Ross Ice Shelf. It was named by the New Zealand ...

, assuming the leader in 1965–66 was on the base support party of 1961–62. From 1957 until 1986, dogs played a part in base operations. Initially, they were an essential means of transport, but with better technology, their importance dwindled until they were removed in line with environmental treaties.

Scientific diving Scientific diving is the use of underwater diving techniques by scientists to perform work underwater in the direct pursuit of scientific knowledge. The legal definition of scientific diving varies by jurisdiction. Scientific divers are normally q ...

operations began in 1985. Between 1985 and 2006, a total of 1,296 had been logged.

21st century redevelopment

In support of the future of New Zealand’s Antarctic science programme, the base will be redeveloped. In June 2019 the Government committed NZ$18.5 million (US$12.4 million) for the next phase of the Scott Base Redevelopment project, which will see the base's 12 separate buildings replaced by three large interconnected buildings. Jasmax and Hugh Broughton Architects came up with the architectural design. Since then the New Zealand Government has committed $344 million to rebuild the base. On 5 November 2021, Antarctica New Zealand confirmed that PrimePort Timaru will host the redevelopment of the prefabricated Scott Base facilities. Besides the three interconnected buildings, the project also involves upgrading the

wind farm. The redevelopment project will create an estimated 700 jobs over the next six years.

Historic site

The A Hut of Scott Base is the only existing Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1956–1957) building in Antarctica. It has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 75), following a proposal by New Zealand to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

Facilities

The base is made up of a collection of Chelsea Cucumber green buildings which are linked by all-weather corridors. These buildings can accommodate 85 people over summer, with a "skeleton staff" of between 10 and 14 people remaining over the winter. Like nearby

, Scott Base is connected to the global telephone network via a Satellite Earth Station operated by

Spark New Zealand Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company providing fixed-line plain old telephone service, telephone services, a mobile phone network, internet service provider, internet access services, and (through its Spark Digi ...

, located approximately away at Arrival Heights. Spark NZ also provide phone services to McMurdo for calls to New Zealand as well as to the Italian Programme at Terra Nova Bay. McMurdo Station has an independent communications infrastructure located at Black Island and linked to Ross Island via microwave. Scott Base is today operated by Antarctica New Zealand. Three

Enercon Enercon GmbH is a wind turbine manufacturer based in Aurich, Lower Saxony, Germany. It has been the market leader in Germany since the mid-1990s. Enercon has production facilities in Germany (Aurich, Emden and Magdeburg), Brazil, India, Canada, ...

E-33

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s ( each) were installed in 2009 to co-power Scott Base and McMurdo Station, reducing diesel consumption by 11%: per year.

Climate

A pressure ridge in the Antarctic ice near Scott Base, with lenticular clouds in the sky. A polar ice cap climate with evenly-distributed precipitation (Köppen ''EFf'') prevails at Scott Base. The base has fairly typical weather conditions for coastal Antarctica, with minimum temperatures around and summer maximum only occasionally above freezing point. It is exposed to the full strength of southerly

blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling ...

s, although overall it is less windy than

. The maximum wind velocities experienced have been gusts up to with steady velocities under blizzard conditions of . The highest recorded temperature was , the coolest and the mean temperature .

References

External links

Antarctica New Zealand homepage

Scott base homepage

Antarctic connection page

Current webcam at Scott Base

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080424075823/https://www.comnap.aq/facilities COMNAP Antarctic Facilities
COMNAP Antarctic Facilities Map
Scott Base 50th Anniversary Website
Scott Base 50th Anniversary Website

NZ Antarctic Research
Latitudinal Gradient Project (LGP) supporting scientists in investigations related to the broad theme of ecosystems research

ANDRILL - Drilling back into the future
{{Ross Island Outposts of the Ross Dependency Historic Sites and Monuments of Antarctica 1957 establishments in Antarctica