The Dumont d'Urville Station () is a French scientific station 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 (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

on Île des Pétrels, archipelago of Pointe-Géologie in

Adélie Land Adélie Land ( ) or Adélie Coast is a Territorial claims in Antarctica, claimed territory of France located on the continent of Antarctica. It stretches from a portion of the Southern Ocean coastline all the way inland to the South Pole. Franc ...

. It is named after

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French List of explorers, explorer and French Navy, naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. As a botanist an ...

, whose expedition landed on Débarquement Rock in the

Dumoulin Islands The Dumoulin Islands are a small group of rocky islands in the Antarctic region at the northeast end of the Géologie Archipelago, north of Astrolabe Glacier Tongue. On 22 January 1840, a French Antarctic expedition led by Captain Jules Dumon ...

at the northeast end of the archipelago on January 21, 1840. It is operated by the " French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor", a joint operation of French public and para-public agencies. It is the administrative centre of Adélie Land.

History

A pioneering French Antarctic research station,

Port Martin Port Martin, or Port-Martin, is an abandoned French research base at Cape Margerie on the coast of Adélie Land, Antarctica, as well as the name of the adjacent anchorage. History The site was discovered in 1950 by the Fifth French Antarctic Ex ...

, located east of D'Urville, was destroyed by fire on the night of January 23, 1952, without death or injury. In 1952, a small base was built on Île des Pétrels to study a

rookery A rookery is a colony of breeding rooks, and more broadly a colony of several types of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds. Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-fo ...

emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...

s. This base was called Base Marret. As the main base Port Martin was a total loss, Base Marret was chosen as overwintering site for 1952/1953. The new main base, Dumont D'Urville station, was built on the same island and opened on January 12, 1956, to serve as the centre for French scientific research during the Antarctic

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; ), also referred to as the third International Polar Year, 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 w ...

1957/1958. The station has remained in active use ever since. The station allows 30-40 people to come ashore at one time. Ice and strong

katabatic wind A katabatic wind (named ) is a downslope wind caused by the flow of an elevated, high-density air mass into a lower-density air mass below under the force of gravity. The spelling catabatic is also used. Since air density is strongly dependent o ...

s often prevent landings, either by

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

or by

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

. The station can accommodate about 30 winter-overs and 90 during the summer. 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 ...

ship ''L'Astrolabe'' carries supplies and personnel to the station from the port of

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. It does 5 round-trips between November and March. The Academy Award-winning documentary film ''La Marche de l'empereur'', released in English as ''

March of the Penguins ''March of the Penguins'' ( French ''La Marche de l'empereur''; ) is a 2005 French feature-length nature documentary directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The documentary d ...

'', was filmed in the region around this base.

Wildlife

One of the main interests of the base is the study of wildlife, notably the

s. In the summer, the rocks near the base serve as a refuge for the

Adélie penguin The Adélie penguin (''Pygoscelis adeliae'') is a species of penguin common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, which is the only place where it is found. It is the most widespread penguin species, and, along with the emperor peng ...

, which comes here to reproduce. Skua,

snow petrel The snow petrel (''Pagodroma nivea'') is the only member of the genus ''Pagodroma.'' It is one of only three birds that have been seen at the Geographic South Pole, along with the Antarctic petrel and the south polar skua, which has the most s ...

, giant petrel, Cape petrel also spend the summer near the base. In the winter, only

s stay to reproduce. However, around August, giant petrels return to feed on emperor penguin chicks. Some marine animals are equally present despite the negative temperature of the water. Among rare visitors to the archipelago, there are other species of penguins, orcas, and rorquals.

Activity

The base Dumont d'Urville is first and foremost a scientific base, even if nowadays the transportation of supplies to the Concordia Station (operated together with Italian researchers) represents an important part of the activity of the base. The French Southern and Atlantic Lands (TAAF) administration, the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV) and the French Navy jointly operate the icebreaker ''Astrolabe'' which is based out of Réunion. The vessel is used both to bring personnel and supplies to the Dumont d'Urville Station and for research and patrol duties.French Navy receives icebreaker and patrol vessel L'Astrolabe
''Naval Today'', 13 July 2017.

Chemistry of the atmosphere

The laboratory in atmospheric chemistry of the base is used to analyse, among other things, sulfur compounds present in the atmosphere.

Geophysics

Nowadays, the study of geophysics is less present in the base. Nonetheless, several tools are still in use, notably a tide gauge, a cosmic rays detector, a GPS to measure the dip of the Antarctica into the

upper mantle The upper mantle of Earth is a very thick layer of rock inside the planet, which begins just beneath the crust (geology), crust (at about under the oceans and about under the continents) and ends at the top of the lower mantle (Earth), lower man ...

, and a

lidar Lidar (, also LIDAR, an acronym of "light detection and ranging" or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging") is a method for determining ranging, ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected li ...

, which allows the analysis of the ozone depletion and the ozone holes.

Logistics

The proper functioning of the base and supplying Concordia requires significant logistics, especially in the summer. Technicians, including electricians, plumbers, mechanics for the electric plant and auto mechanics are essential for the proper functioning of the base all year round. In the 1950s the station had a small narrow-gauge railway for transporting supplies from a landing jetty to the main base. This was the only recorded railway ever in Antarctica.

Climate

Dumont d'Urville Station has an

ice cap In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description By definition, ice caps are not constrained by topogra ...

( EF) climate with conditions milder than inland. This station experienced record warm temperatures and precipitation due to an unprecedented

atmospheric river An atmospheric river (AR) is a narrow corridor or filament of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere. Other names for this phenomenon are tropical plume, tropical connection, moisture plume, water vapor surge, and cloud band. Atmospheric rivers ...

event in March 2022. Due to its mild ice cap climate, with summer temperatures often rising above freezing, some animal life, and a few plant species (moss and lichen) can grow in this location.

Gallery

NASA Tº D'Urvi 1950-2012.gif, Climate graph of 1950-2012 air average temperatures at D'Urville Station Colonie de manchots Adélies.jpg, A colony of

s Dumont d Urville panoramque toit geophy.ogv, Panorama of the Dumont d'Urville Station in 2005

References

External links

*
Official website IPEV Institut Polaire Français Paul Emilie Victor
*
Terre Adélie - Dumont d'Urville Station, site of Samuel Blanc
*

site from

Ifremer The or Ifremer is an oceanographic institution in Brest, France. A state-run and funded scientific organization, it is France’s national integrated marine science research institute. Scope of works Ifremer focuses its research activities in ...

*
''l'Astrolabe''

COMNAP Antarctic Facilities

COMNAP Antarctic Facilities Map
{{Antarctica Outposts of Adélie Land Outposts of Antarctica 1956 establishments in Antarctica Articles containing video clips