VirtualGlobetrotting: Antarctica Maps & Satellite Images

VirtualGlobetrotting Live View

Avalanche!!!
mikeb9991 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mikeb9991.
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Scott's Hut
Mike1989 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Mike1989.
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Scott's Hut is a building located on the north shore of Cape Evans on Ross Island in Antarctica. It was erected in 1911 by the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910–1913 (also known as the Terra Nova Expedition) led by Robert Falcon Scott. In selecting a base of operations for the 1910–1913 Expedition, Scott rejected the notion of re-occupying the hut he had built by McMurdo Sound during the Discovery Expedition of 1901–1904. This first hut was located at Hut Point, 20 km south of Cape Evans. Two factors influenced this decision. One was that the hut was extremely cold for living quarters and the other was that Scott's ship, the Discovery, had been trapped by sea ice at Hut Point, a problem he hoped to avoid by establishing his new base further north.

Plane Crashed in Antarctica
mlc1us (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mlc1us.
Read more...
Date - 2 January 1979
Operator - Aeroflot
Country - Soviet Union
Location - Molodyozhnaya, Antarctica
Fatalities - 4 of 7
Description - Crashed after engine failure on takeoff.

The Kraken?
jdubble07 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: jdubble07.
What some are to believe is the mythical Kraken, located off the coast of Deception Island in the South Shetland archipelago in Antartica.

Ceremonial South Pole
Mike1989 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Mike1989.
The Ceremonial South Pole is an area set aside for photo opportunities at the South Pole Station. It is located a short distance from the Geographic South Pole, and consists of a metallic sphere on a plinth, surrounded by the flags of the Antarctic Treaty signatory states.

McMurdo Station Antarctica
Gosell (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Gosell.

Mount Erebus - world's most southern volcano
Dania (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Dania.
Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost historically active volcano on Earth. With a summit elevation of 3,794 metres (12,448 ft), it is located on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes, notably Mount Terror. Mount Erebus is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which includes over 160 active volcanoes.
The volcano has been observed to be continuously active since 1972 and is the site of the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory run by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

Air New Zealand #901 Crash
KRL (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: KRL.
On 28 November 1979; a DC-10-30 departed Auckland, NZ for an overflight sightseeing trip to Antartica, returning the same day.
The aircraft crashed into Mt. Erebus. All 237 passengers and 10 crew perished. The accident is referred to the Mt. Erebus Disaster.
A change of a flight plan waypoint and flying below established altitude resulted in the crash.
More info and photo of seasonally visible wreckage at link below

Antarctic Base Marambio
kjfitz (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kjfitz.
Base Antártica Marambio is the main Argentine base in Antarctica, and it is located at the Seymour-Marambio Island.
This permanent base, founded on October 29, 1969, was named after Argentine Air Force pilot Gustavo Argentino Marambio, one of the first pilots flying over Antarctica.

Coldest place in the World
dda (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: dda.
Lake Vostok base in Antarctica. -89.2ºC recorded on 21 July 1983.
It was also in the news twice :
- One for the discovery of Liquid water underground:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast05mar98_1.htm
- One for the magnetic anomaly of this place. Ufos for sure :)
http://www.rense.com/general9/ant.htm

Antarctic Troll research station
kjfitz (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kjfitz.
Troll research station is a Norwegian Antarctic research station in Queen Maud Land, in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast, constructed during the Norwegian expedition 1989 - 1990.
The station was only manned during the Antarctic summer months until facilities for permanent residence were installed February 2005. The capacity is limited to eight people through the winter (average winter population is seven) and a significantly larger number during the summer (maximum 40) thanks to the temporary tent camp erected each spring.
On 12 February 2005 the station was officially opened by HM Queen Sonja of Norway for a manned all-year operation, which actually only will be permanent from about February 2007.
To facilitate logistics, the Troll airfield was constructed in 2005.
Important areas of research at Troll include meteorological measurements, radiation measurements for UV etc, and glaeceological, biological and physical field programmes. The station is managed by the Norwegian polar research establishment

Neumayer Station
AlbinoFlea (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: AlbinoFlea.
From www.awi.de:
In 1981, the first Georg von Neumayer Station in the Antarctic was established on the Ekstrom Ice Shelf as a research observatory for geophysical, meteorological and atmospheric chemistry measurements, as well as a logistics base for summer expeditions. Georg von Neumayer, whom the station is named after, was an important patron of Germany's research activities in Antarctica. Ice movements and heavy snow deposits demanded the construction of a new station building in the early 1990s. In March 1992, the new Neumayer station was completed only ten kilometres from the original site. The station's research and observation programme has steadily expanded ever since and now includes monitoring of atmospheric ozone.
The snow-covered Neumayer Station is located on shelf ice 200 metres thick and almost completely flat. All that is visible from the distance are the towers of the station entrance, which project several metres above the snow. The shelf ice margin, destination for supply ships, is ten kilometres away. The station consists of two parallel steel tubes, each eight metres in diameter and approximately 90 metres long, which accommodate containers with living quarters, a kitchen, a mess, a hospital, various laboratories, workshops, a radio operator room, sanitary facilities, two power supply stations and a snow-melting plant.
Another transverse tube of similar length contains storage, waste and fuel containers, as well as space for vehicles. A tunnel links the main station with a special garage for all station vehicles, ranging from motor sleds to a rotary snowplough.
The station's power supply comes from diesel generators, the waste heat from which is used for the heating system and for melting snow. A 20 kW wind generator is an innovative and eco-friendly source of energy in Antarctica. When the station was being designed, the requirements laid down in the new Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty were adhered to, e.g. through the use of environmentally neutral construction materials, catalytic converters for the diesel generators and oil collecting equipment for the oil tanks. Waste is routinely collected and shipped back to Germany once a year.
Nine or at most ten people live and work at Neumayer Station during the Antarctic winter: a medical doctor who also acts as the head of the station, a meteorologist, an airchemist, two geophysicists, an engineer, an electrician, a radio operator/electronics engineer and a cook. Each team overwintering at the station stays there for 14 to 15 months. For nine months of that time, their only link to the outside world is by radio.

Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station
Mike1989 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Mike1989.
The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is the American scientific research station at the Geographic South Pole, the southernmost place on the Earth. The station is located on the high plateau of Antarctica at an elevation of 2,835 meters (9301 feet) above sea level.

Elephant Island
AlbinoFlea (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: AlbinoFlea.
Twenty-two members of Shackleton's Endurance spent 4 months here in 1914 at Point Wild awaiting rescue. It is a member of the South Shetland Islands.

Deception Island
AlbinoFlea (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: AlbinoFlea.
From Wikipedia:
Deception Island is an island in the South Shetland Islands off the Antarctic Peninsula in Antarctica. It is notable for having one of the safest harbors in Antarctica, and for being an active volcano, whose eruption in 1970 caused serious damage to the scientific stations there.
Deception Island has several colonies of chinstrap penguins, and it is possible to make a warm bath by digging into the sands of the beach, so it has become a popular tourist stop in Antarctica.

Mirny Antarctic Polar Station
kjfitz (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kjfitz.
Mirny (Russian: Мирный, literally Peaceful) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) science station in Antarctica, located on the Antarctic coast of the Davis Sea in the Australian Antarctic Territory.
The station was opened on February 13, 1956 by the 1st Soviet Antarctic Expedition. It is used as main base for the Vostok Station located 1,400 km from the coast. In summer, it hosts up to 169 people in 30 buildings, in winter about 60 scientists and technicians. The average temperature at the location is –11°C, and on more than 200 days per year the wind is stronger than 15 m/s, with occasional cyclones.
Main areas of research are glaciology, seismology, meteorology, observation of polar lights, cosmic radiation, and marine biology.
The next station is the Australian Davis Station, at a distance of 678 km. From 1901 to 1903 the first German Antarctic Expedition led by Erich von Drygalski passed through the Davis Sea, and Drygalski Island right off the station was named after this explorer.

Russian Icebreaker off the coast of Antarctica
Near Mirny Station.

Vostok Station
Tyco (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Tyco.

Antarctic Novolazarevskaya Station
Novolazarevskaya Station (Russian: Станция Новолазаревская) is a Russian, formerly Soviet, Antarctic research station. The station is located at Schirmacher Oasis, Queen Maud Land, 75 km from the Antarctic coast. It was opened on January 18, 1961 by the 6th Soviet Antarctic Expedition. The maximum summer population is 70.

Scott's Antarctic Hut
Scott's Hut is a building located on the north shore of Cape Evans on Ross Island in Antarctica. It was erected in 1911 by the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910–1913 (also known as the Terra Nova Expedition) led by Robert Falcon Scott.
In selecting a base of operations for the 1910–1913 Expedition, Scott rejected the notion of re-occupying the hut he had built by McMurdo Sound during the Discovery Expedition of 1901–1904. This first hut was located at Hut Point, 20 km south of Cape Evans. Two factors influenced this decision. One was that the hut was extremely cold for living quarters and the other was that Scott's ship, the Discovery, had been trapped by sea ice at Hut Point, a problem he hoped to avoid by establishing his new base further north.

Casey Antarctic Polar Station
Casey Station is a permanent base in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) located on Vincennes Bay.
Casey is close to the now-abandoned Wilkes Station established by the United States of America to support science and exploration of Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957/8.

McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern 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 United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as the United States Antarctic science facility. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first passes through McMurdo.

Davis Polar station in Antarctica
dda (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: dda.
Davis Station is a permanent base in Antarctica managed by the Australian Government Antarctic Division (AGAD). It is the busiest Australian scientific research station. Davis Station is located in Princess Elizabeth Land in a remarkable ice free area of Antarctica known as the Vestfold Hills.

Iceberg

Shackleton's Hut

Scott's Hut
Scott's Hut is a building located on the north shore of Cape Evans on Ross Island in Antarctica.

Maitri Antarctic Polar Station (India)
Maitri is India's second permanent Antarctic station in Antarctica. It was built and finished in 1989, after the first station Dakshina Gangotri was buried in ice and abandoned in 1990-91. Maitri is situated on the rocky mountainous region called Schirmacher Oasis.
It has all the modern facilities to carry out research in various disciplines such as Biology, Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Atmospheric Sciences, Meteorology, Cold region Engineering, Communication, Human Physiology and Medicine. It has a capacity to accommodate 25 people for winter. Fresh water supply is provided through a fresh water lake named Priyadarshini in front of Maitri. By virtue of India’s sustained interest and demonstrative capabilities in the domain of polar science, the country has achieved the following milestones.

Cape Royds
Location of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Expedition Hut, inscribed on the World Monument Fund's World Monuments Watch
List for 2006.

Rothera Research Station
From Wikipedia:
Rothera research station is a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base on the Antarctic Peninsula, located at 67°34′S, 68°08′W, Rothera Point, Adelaide Island.
Rothera Station is the BAS logistics centre for the Antarctic and home to well-equipped biological laboratories and facilities for a wide range of research. The station is situated on a rock and raised beach promontory at the southern extremity of Wormald Ice Piedmont, south-eastern Adelaide Island. The station has a 900 m crushed rock runway, with an associated hangar and bulk fuel storage facility, and a wharf for the discharge of cargo from supply ships. There is a transitory summer population of scientists and support staff who reach Rothera either by ship or through use of an intercontinental Dash-7 aircraft flying from the Falkland Islands. The station was made world-famous in 2007 because of its involvement in the Live Earth concert series.
Rothera station was established in 1975 to replace Adelaide station (1961-1977) where the skiway had deteriorated. From its inception until the 1991-92 summer season BAS Twin Otter aircraft used the skiway 300 m above the station on Wormald Ice Piedmont. With the commissioning of the gravel runway and hangar in 1991-92 air operations became more reliable and access to Rothera was greatly improved through a direct airlink from the Falkland Islands. The Twin Otters mainly fly south of Rothera, via a network of fuel depots, most of which are manned. Heading south of Rothera, the first stop would be Fossil Bluff, then Sky Blu. The Dash 7 will make approximately 20 flights a season to Stanley during the summer, bringing in scientists, support staff, food and equipment. When not tasked for these flights, the Dash can fly to Sky Blu in one hop, landing on the Blue Ice runway, significantly enhancing the range of the Twin Otters by depoting fuel and equipment in much larger quantities.
The opening of the Bonner Laboratory in 1996-97 marked the start of new activities in biological sciences in the Antarctic Peninsula. These included scuba diving and experiments conducted in the Bonner Laboratory throughout the year. The first Bonner Lab burned down in the winter of 2001 after an electrical fault; it was rebuilt and opened in December 2003.
Meteorological research using satellite data intercepted at the Rothera ground station also continues year round.
Fieldwork is concentrated in the summer months from November until March. Once in the field, the parties travel using skidoos and sledges for up to four months, and, being in daily HF radio communication with Rothera, they can be resupplied when necessary by air.
The station is open throughout the year with a maximum population of 130 in the summer and an average winter population of 22.

Weddell Sea
The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha Coast, Queen Maud Land. To the east of Cape Norvegia is the King Haakon VII Sea. Much of the southern part of the sea, up to Elephant Island, is permanent ice, the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. The sea is contained within the two overlapping Antarctic territorial claims of Argentina, (Argentine Antarctica) and Britain (British Antarctic Territory), and also resides partially within the territorial claim of Chile (Antarctic Chilean Territory). At its widest the sea is around 2,000 km across, in area it is around 2.8 million km².

Antarctic SANAE-IV-Station
SANAE is the South African National Antarctic Expedition. The current base, SANAE 4, is located at Vesleskarvet in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. Summer teams can comprises maintenance personnel and scientists from various countries and can be up to 100 people. Overwintering teams are mainly scientists from South Africa and range from 9 to 16 members.

Machu Picchu Research Station
Tyco (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Tyco.
The Machu Picchu Scientific Base is a Peruvian polar scientific research facility in Antarctica, established to conduct Antarctic research on geology, climatology and biology. More specifically, its purpose is to study the continent's geological past, potential sea resources, wind strengths, air pollution, and the animal adaptation in a freezing environment. The base is named after the World Heritage site Machu Picchu.

Large Ice Bubble
gamma (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: gamma.

Orcadas Base
From Wikipedia:
Orcadas Base is an Argentine base in Antarctica and the first permanent base in the area defined by the Antarctic Treaty System. It is located on Laurie Island, one of the South Orkney Islands (known as the Orcadas Islands to the Argentines), at 4 meters above sea level and 170 meters from the coastline. The nearest port is Ushuaia, which is 1,502 km away. The base has 11 buildings and four main topics of research: continental glaciology, seismology, sea-ice-zone glaciology (since 1985) and meteorological observations (since 1903).
In 1903 Dr William S. Bruce's Scottish National Antarctic Expedition established Osmond House, a meteorological station on Laurie Island. During the expedition, however, the crew became stuck in the ice and, unable to sail off, were trapped in the station for the winter.
Bruce left the station in December of that year for Buenos Aires to fix the ship, leaving a few men to keep continue the observations.
Since February 22, 1904, Argentina has kept a permanently populated base there, one of six Argentine permanent bases in Argentine Antarctica, and the first permanently inhabited base in Antarctica.
Orcadas was the only base on the islands for 40 years until the British established a small summer base. It also had the first radiotelegraph in the continent (in 1927). The 11 buildings of the base house up to 45 people during the summer, and an average of 14 during winter.

Shackleton' Antarctic Hut
There is a hut at Cape Royds built by Ernest Shackleton during his 1907–1909 expedition.
When Shackleton went into McMurdo Sound in 1908, having failed to land on King Edward VII Land, he decided to build a hut at Cape Royds, a small promontory twenty-three miles north of Hut Point where Scott had stayed during the Discovery Expedition. The whole shore party lived in this hut through the winter of 1908. When spring came stores were sledged to Hut Point, so that should the sea-ice break up early between these two places they might not be left in an awkward position. Shackleton did not return to the hut after his farthest south attempt, however he had left full instructions with Professor Edgeworth David as to the care of the hut, and before the whole Expedition left, the hut was put in order. A letter was pinned in a conspicuous place inside, stating that there were sufficient provisions and equipment to last fifteen men for one year, indicating also the details of these provisions and the position of the coal store. The stove was in good condition, and the letter ended with an invitation for any succeeding party to make what use they required of stores and hut. The hut was then locked and the key nailed on the door in a conspicuous place.
Scott could have used this as a base during the Terra Nova Expedition, given that it was unlikely to suffer the sea ice problem that afflicted Hut Point, but he had reached an agreement with Shackleton that neither would use each other's facilities. The only visit to Shackleton's hut made during Scott's 1910–1913 expedition was by a former member of Shackleton's expedition. Shackleton's hut was found intact, with bread still on the tables just as it had been left. Raymond Priestley, who had walked out the door of the building two years previously, described coming back to the place as 'very eerie'. Priestly retrieved a tin of butter, tins of jam, a plum pudding and gingerbread biscuits from the site, all of which were described as being perfectly fresh.
The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust is in the process of restoring the hut to the same condition as when Shackleton's team left it. Amongst other things two crates of McKinlay and Co whisky were found buried under the hut in 2006.

Wilkes Station
gamma (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: gamma.
Wilkes Station was an Antarctic research station established 29 January 1957 by the United States as one of seven U.S. stations established for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) program in Antarctica. It was taken over by Australia on 7 February 1959.
Navy personnel from the United States constructed the main part of Wilkes in a period of 16 days, unloading 11,000 tons of material and supplies. It took a crew of over 100 to erect the station which housed 24 naval personnel and scientists for the next 18 months.
As this was the time of the Cold War, there was considerable concern by the United States and Australia about Russian activity in Antarctica. Wilkes was seen to be strategically located because of its proximity to the south magnetic pole.
Australia assumed custody of Wilkes, which remained the property of the U.S. State Department, in February 1959. Although Australia officially took over the operational command, the remaining US personnel did not take kindly to being under Australian control. Consequently there was a 'back down' until 1961 when the station came under exclusive ANARE control.
Wilkes had originally been built in 1957 for a two year period. By 1964 the buildings had become a fire hazard due to fuel seepage, and the station was becoming buried by snow and ice. The new station of Casey Repstat (Replacement Station) was developed on the other side of Newcomb Bay. It was commissioned in 1969 and Wilkes was closed down.
Wilkes Station is now almost permanently frozen in ice and is only occasionally revealed during a big thaw every four or five years. Many objects remain embedded in the ice, and visitors are often able to see the remains of the station through the ice.
What remains at Wilkes are a number of barracks buildings known as Clements huts, and the remnants of the semi-cylindrical canvas store buildings known as Jamesway huts. There is also a series of storage dumps and a considerable amount of rubbish resulting from 12 years of occupation, including approximately 7000 fuel and oil drums.

Troll Airfield
Troll airfield is a 3 km air strip located near the Norwegian Troll Antarctic research station. It was constructed on the ice shelf and opened for service February 2005 to facilitate logistics for the research in the area.
The Norwegian Polar Institute has invited 11 countries opertaing on Queen Maud Land into a cooperation on Dronning Maud Land Air Network Project (DROMLAN). Troll Airﬁeld is a part of an air network with Cape Town in South Africa and the Russian Novolazarevskaya Station further north east of Troll. Passengers are flown in from the main land and then distributed by smaller aircraft on to their final destination.
The air strip has proven popular with its users helping to cut costs on Antarctic research. C-130 Hercules, P-3 Orion and similar long range aircraft have regular flights. The runway does not limit the size of visiting aircraft. Troll airfield is only open to traffic associated with research. Commercial traffic is not served.
February 12 2005 a C-130H of the Norwegian 335 Squadron brought Queen Sonja of Norway to the Troll research station, landing at Troll airfield, making Queen Sonja the first queen to ever set foot on Antarctica

Street View in Antarctica
Paginadetodos (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Paginadetodos.

Ventifact rocks
WacoKidd110 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: WacoKidd110.
Ventifact is erosion due to high winds and sand/ice that blasts the surfaces. These rocks on the Gonzalez spur are subject to lots of wind and erosion which has caused these natural sculptures

Base Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (Bernardo O'Higgins Station)
Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, also Base Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, or shortly Bernardo O'Higgins, named after Bernardo O'Higgins is the main Chilean base in Antarctica. It is located at 63°19′16″S 57°54′03″W﻿, 13 m elevation, on the Antarctic Peninsula. It was established on February 18, 1948 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. The civilian name of the site is Puerto Covadonga, the "capital" of the Chilean sector of Antarctica, which is claimed as a comuna (municipality) of Antártica Chilena Province.
The German Antarctic Receiving Station (GARS) was established at O'Higgins in 1991 by the DLR. It is a satellite 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 sensors such as SAR generate too much data to be stored onboard the satellite for transmission to ground stations elsewhere. GARS was sited at O'Higgins because of the geology, infrastructure and accessibility of the base.

Península Antártica Argentina
psycho_roy (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: psycho_roy.
Península
ED: Originally submitted as part of Argentina. Wikipedia shows that these claims have been made, but are generally not recognized. So I'm going to leave any maps on Antarctica in the Antarctica category.

Scott Base
Scott Base is a research facility located in Antarctica and is operated by New Zealand. It was named after Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Royal Navy, leader of two British expeditions to the Ross Sea area of Antarctica. Located on Ross Island near Mount Erebus in New Zealand's Ross Dependency territorial claim, it was set up as support to field research and the centre for research into earth sciences, but now conducts research in many fields.

Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva
Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva is the most important Antarctic base of Chile and one of the most important ones in Antarctica. It's located at Fildes Peninsula, an ice-free area, in front of Fildes Bay (Maxwell Bay), west of King George Island, South Shetland Islands. It's located alongside the Escudero Station, and only 200 meters from the Russian Bellingshausen Station. Its geographical coordinates are 62°12′0″S, 58°57′51″W, and it is located at an altitude of 10 meters above sea-level. It's located at the Antarctic territory claimed by Chile (Antártica Chilena Province, Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region).
It has a 1300 meters long airstrip, with 50 intercontinental and 150 intracontinental flights each season, serving as a means of transport to many bases around.
It also includes the Villa Las Estrellas residential area that has an hospital, a school, a bank, a small supermarket, etc. The maximum population during summer is of 150 people, and the average during winter is of about 80 people.
It began to operate in 1969 as Centro Meteorológico Eduardo Frei. When the installations were expanded, it was renamed as "Base Teniente Rodolfo Marsh", with the meteorology center keeping its original name. During the 1990 decade, all of the installations came to be named Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva.

Abandoned whaling camp on Deception Island
Deception Island is located in the South Shetland Islands off the Antarctic Peninsula. One of the area’s only safe harbors, Deception Island offered a refuge from storms and was also the site of several research stations and whaling operations. Many buildings have been abandoned there due both to a decline in the use of whale oil and a volcanic eruption in 1969. The volcano has made it an unpopular location, but Spain and Argentina still have summer-only research stations there.

Onyx river
WacoKidd110 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: WacoKidd110.
Although it is only about 20 miles long, it is the longest river in Antartica, and flows in Wright valley

Profesor Julio Escudero Antarctic Polar Station

Церковь Святой Троицы (Trinity Church, Antarctica)
: Церковь Святой Троицы) is a small Russian Orthodox church on the King George Island near Russian Bellingshausen Station in Antarctica. It is the southernmost Eastern Orthodox church in the world.
The ambitious project to establish a permanent church or even a monastery on Antarctica surfaced during the 1990s. A charity named Temple for Antarctica (Храм - Антарктиде) was approved by Patriarch Alexius II and received donations from across Russia. They organized a competition for the project that was won by architects from Barnaul P.I. Anisifirov, S.G. Rybak and A.B. Schmidt.
The church is a 15m-high wooden structure built in traditional Russian style. It can accommodate up to 30 worshippers. The structure was built out of Siberian Pine by Altay carpenters led by K.V. Khromov, then dismantled, shipped to Antarctica (by the ship Academician Vavilov) and assembled there by the staff of Bellingshausen Station. The iconostasis was created by Palekh painters. The church bells were paid for by the descendants of Sergey Muravyov-Apostol.
The church was opened on May 29, 2004, the Pentecost or Trinity day according to the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. The church was blessed by Hieromonk Kallistrat (Romanenko), head priest of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra, who visited Antarctica for this occasion. The permanent priest of the church is Father Georgy, who has twenty years of polar experience and now lives permanently near his church. Among his tasks is praying for the souls of 64 Russian people who died in Antarctic expeditions and serving as the spiritual needs of the staff of Bellingshausen Station and other nearby stations.
Also, pictures can be seen at:
alexchmel.livejournal.com/48027.html
and
r-oc.1gb.ru/viewpage.php?cat=antarctic_continent

Gabriel de Castilla Spanish Antarctic Station
From pdf.comnap.aq:
The Spanish Antarctic station Gabriel de Castilla was established in the1989/90 campaign. It is located on the SW coast of Port Foster in Deception Island. The base gives support to the scientific research in the island and it is operated by the Spanish Army.
The station has different areas: living area, with accommodation for 14 people, scientific module, medical care module, engine room and mechanical workshop, store and emergency module. During the 2000/2001 campaign the base has been modernised, specially the living and scientific areas. The modifications have not increased the capacity of the station but have improved the scientific capabilities and the environmental protection measures.

Antarctic Iceberg with pond in it
Gosell (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Gosell.
This iceberg appears to have pond or a hole in it. IMHO the light blue color would seem to indicate there is ice under the pond surface. There are lots of great ice and glacial features in this area.

Crary Science Center
The Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center (CSEC), located at McMurdo Station, was dedicated in November 1991 by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The laboratory is named in honor of geophysicist and glaciologist Albert P. Crary. There are five pods making for 4,320 square meters of working area that includes a two-story core, a biology pod, earth sciences and atmospheric sciences pods, and an aquarium.

Discovery Hut
Discovery Hut was built by Robert Falcon Scott during the Discovery Expedition of 1901–1904 in 1902 and is located at Hut Point on Ross Island by McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Visitors to Antarctica, arriving at either the US Base at McMurdo or New Zealand's Scott Base are likely to encounter Discovery Hut as all three are located on Hut Point. Discovery Hut is just 300m from McMurdo Base.

South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of 3,687 square kilometres (1,424 sq mi). By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for non-military purposes.

Adélie Penguin
The Adélie Penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae, is a species of penguin common along the entire Antarctic coast. They are among the most southerly distributed of all seabirds, as are the Emperor Penguin, the South Polar Skua, the Wilson's Storm Petrel, the Snow Petrel, and the Antarctic Petrel. In 1840, French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville named them for his wife, Adèle.

Antarctic Research
gamma (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: gamma.

Giant Snowball
mlc1us (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mlc1us.
A giant snowball formed by snow rolling down a hill. Credit to Micradott at Google Earth Hacks.

Digital Processing Errors
Looks like it may be a result of quickly shifting perspective.

Shackleton's Hut at Cape Royds
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE FRGS (/ˈʃækəltən/; 15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was a polar explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic, and one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton

Drygalski Ice Tongue
Extending 70 km into the McMurdo Sound, the Drygalski Ice Tongue is an extension of the David Glacier.
Earlier this year, the B-15A iceberg collided with the tongue and broke off a 5km chunk.

Mawson Station
Mawson Station is a permanent base in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). It is named after the explorer, Douglas Mawson. Mawson station is Australia's oldest Antarctic station and the oldest continuously inhabited Antarctic station of any nation below the Antarctic Circle.
Mawson Station houses approximately 20 personnel over winter and 60 in summer. It is the only Antarctic station to use wind generators for over 70% of its power needs, saving over 600,000 litres of diesel fuel per year.

Great Wall Station
From www.pric.gov.cn:
Great Wall Station located at King George Island, west Antarctica, is established in Feb. 1985. The station, named after the world famous Great Wall of China, is the first Chinese Antarctic base with the capability of accommodating 80 summering research personnel and 40 wintering research personnel.

The Geographic South Pole

Juan Carlos I Antarctic Base
Juan Carlos I Antarctic Base, named after the king of Spain, Juan Carlos I (Spanish: Base Antártica Española Juan Carlos Primero), is a seasonal (November to March) scientific station operated by Spain, opened in January 1988. Situated on Hurd Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica.

South Pole Telescope
The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10 metre (394 in) diameter telescope located at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica. The telescope is designed for observations in the microwave, millimeter-wave, and submillimeter-wave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, with the particular design goal of measuring the faint, diffuse emission from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The first major survey with the SPT–designed to find distant, massive, clusters of galaxies through their interaction with the CMB, with the goal of constraining the Dark Energy equation of state–was completed in October, 2011. In early 2012, a new camera was installed on the SPT with even greater sensitivity and the capability to measure the polarization of incoming light. This camera is designed to measure the so-called "B-mode" or "curl" component of the polarized CMB, leading to constraints on the mass of the neutrino and the energy scale of inflation.

Research Station in Bunger hills
javelinpr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: javelinpr.
The Soviet Union built a scientific station by the name of Oazis (Оазис) in the center of the area at 66°16′29″S 100°44′49″E﻿ / ﻿66.27472°S 100.74694°E﻿ / -66.27472; 100.74694, starting October 15, 1956, with two buildings for eight people. The station was handed over to Poland on January 23, 1959, and was renamed A. B. Dobrowolski Station (named after Antoni Dobrowolski). It continued to be occupied for a few weeks only thereafter. On February 22, 1979 (with preparations starting February 18) the station was reactivated for a short time, but an overwintering attempt failed, and the occupants had to be evacuated to Mirny Station (350 km/220 mi to the west) on March 17.
The concrete pillar erected by the First Polish Antarctic Expedition at Dobrowolski Station in January 1959 for gravity measurements, and the magnetic observatory at the station with plaque in memory of the opening of Oazis Station in 1956, are recognized as Antarctic Historic Sites. [2]
The Soviet Union became interested in the Bunger Hills again in the late 1980s, and built a new station - Oazis-2 - a few hundred metres to the west of Dobrowolski. The station was used for summer visits up to the mid-1990s.

Law-Racoviţă Station
The Law-Racoviţă Station (Romanian: Staţia Law-Racoviţă) is the first Antarctic exploration station of Romania, named after the Romanian explorer Emil Racoviţă.
The station is situated in Princess Elizabeth Land, more specifically in the Larsemann Hills. It was inaugurated on January 13, 2006, on the site of an exporation station built in 1989 by Australia and donated to Romania.
Law-Racoviţă Station is operated by the Romanian Polar Research Institute, and is led by polar explorer Teodor Negoiţă.

Tracks in Ice

Dedicated to the memory of Edward C. Thiel
Dr. Edward C Thiel (1928–61), was a geologist from the University of Wisconsin and chief seismologist at Ellsworth Station Antarctica, 1956-58. He was leader of the traverse party that discovered the Thiel Trough submarine valley that was later named in his honour. The Thiel Mountains were also named after him.
Thiel was killed on 9 November 1961 whilst returning from a geomagnetic survey mission to Mirny Station. The P2V-7 (Bu No.140439) Neptune aircraft from US Navy Squadron VX-6 in which he was a passenger crashed at Wilkes Station Antarctica, where it had refueled overnight, and was en route back to McMurdo Station.

Teniente Camara Antarctic Polar Station

Vince's Cross - Antarctica

Trinity Church (Antarctica)
tallturtle82 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: tallturtle82.
Trinity Church is a small Russian Orthodox church established sometime in the 1990's. Trinity is the southernmost Eastern Orthodox church in the world.
AlbinFlea wrote a very good description. See first link.
Direct link is also below.

Southern Pole Of Inaccessibility
albinoflea (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: albinoflea.
Well... slightly off the edge of the world, according to Google Maps...
From wikipedia:
It is located at 85°50′ S 65°47′ E on the surface of the Antarctic continent which is most distant from the Southern Ocean. It was reached in 1957 by a Soviet Antarctic Expedition. They established the 'Sovetskaya' station which was occupied during the 1957-1958 southern summer.

McMurdo Station Airport
Gosell (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Gosell.
Several C-130s and others located South and east of the main base.

Seal skulls
Direct link; http://goo.gl/maps/aqqNy

Antarctic Research Station

King Sejong Station
kkeps (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kkeps.
The King Sejong Station is a research station for the Korea Antarctic Research Program, and it is named after King Sejong the Great of Joseon. Established on February 17th, 1988, it consists of 11 facility buildings and two observatories, and it is located on the Barton Peninsula. It experiences a fairly mild climate, and therefore draws a large number of animals for summer breeding (which, unsurprisingly, draw a lot of biologists). In the summer, the station supports up to 90 people from the Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute, and guest scientists from other institutions as well. Over winter, it accommodates only 17 engineers and scientists who maintain the station and routinely collect data (meteorological records, oceanographical parameters, etc.), but their main focus is on tracking the general change of the natural environment. Researchers from Korea continually collaborate with various other institutes in Antarctica and the rest of the world by participating in, monitoring, and contributing to the World Meteorological Organization, the Global Sea-level Observing System, the International Seismological Center, and the Intermagnet Project.

Belgrano II Base
Xeba73 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Xeba73.
Belgrano II Base is a permanent, all year-round Argentine Antarctic base and scientific research station named after General Manuel Belgrano, one of the Libertadores and the creator of the Argentine Flag. It is located on Bertrab Nunatak on the Confín Coast, Coats Land.
As of 2014 it is Argentina's southernmost permanent base, the world's third further south permanent base, and the world's southmost base built on solid rock, which makes it particularly suited for geological research.
As of 2014 Belgrano II is one of 13 research bases in Antarctica operated by Argentina.

Chinstrap Penguins
mlc1us (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mlc1us.

Boxes of supplies in Discovery Hut

Ross Island
fin (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: fin.
The Ross Island was starting point of several expeditions to Antarctica because it is the southernmost island that can be reached from the sea.

Dumont d'Urville Station
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.

Penguin
Rene73 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Rene73.

Antarctica Cruises
kuressaare (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kuressaare.

Ivan the Terra Bus (McMurdo)
McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Station
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_coach

The benthic grab
WacoKidd110 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: WacoKidd110.
When scientists want to sample the organisms that live on or just below the surface of the ocean floor (the benthos) they commonly use a Benthic Grab to collect a portion of the ocean floor. Benthic Grabs can take a bite out of the benthos. Various sizes and approaches work with different organisms and sediment types. The aim is to bring to the surface a complete sample of both the sediment and the organisms found there.

Artigas Base
The General Artigas Station (Spanish: Base Científica Antártica Artigas), also referred to as the Artigas Base is a small Uruguayan scientific research station in Antarctica. It is only one of the 68 bases in Antarctica.

Cámara Station
Cámara Base is a seasonal station operated by Argentina opened in 1953. Situated on Half Moon Island in McFarlane Strait off the east coast of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica.

Concordia Station
Concordia Research Station, which opened in 2005, is a research facility that was built 3,233 m above sea level at a location called Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau, Antarctica.

'Blood Falls' on Taylor Glacier (aka the Bleeding Glacier)
Blood Falls is an outflow of an iron oxide-tainted plume of saltwater, occurring at the tongue of the Taylor Glacier onto the ice-covered surface of West Lake Bonney in the Taylor Valley of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Victoria Land, East Antarctica.
Iron-rich hypersaline water sporadically emerges from small fissures in the ice cascades. The saltwater source is a subglacial pool of unknown size overlain by about 400 meters of ice at several kilometers from its tiny outlet at Blood Falls.
The reddish deposit was found in 1911 by the Australian geologist Griffith Taylor, who first explored the valley that bears his name. The Antarctica pioneers first attributed the red color to red algae, but later it was proven to be due only to iron oxides.

Teniente R. Marsh Airport
The Teniente R. Marsh Airport is the northernmost airport in the continent of Antarctica. It mainly serves the nearby village, Villa Las Estrellas and the Teniente R. Marsh Martin Base. It is located on King George Island, Antártica, Antarctica.

Thomas E. Berg Field Center - survival bags and tents
tallturtle82 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: tallturtle82.
The Thomas E. Berg Field Center is a supply center at McMurdo Station (U.S. research center). The large yellow material hanging from the ceiling and packed in the background are tents and survival bags especially made for survival in the Antarctic. The white sheet to left displays the four types of survival bags maintained and stored in this room.
Direct link below.

Black colored sea in Antarctica
dda (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: dda.

Palmer Station
Tyco (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Tyco.
Palmer Station, on Anvers Island, is Antarctica's only US station north of the Antarctic Circle. Initial construction of the station finished in 1968. The station, like the other US Antarctic stations, is operated by the United States Antarctic Program.
The 1981 Japanese film Fukkatsu no hi (Virus) centers around Palmer Station as the gathering place for humanity's last survivors of a deadly virus. The film stars George Kennedy as Admiral Conway, the station's commanding officer and features Glenn Ford as the President of the United States. Much of the footage for the film was shot in the vicinity of Palmer Station, though none was actually filmed at the station.

Novolazarevskaya Station
Novolazarevskaya Station (Russian: Станция Новолазаревская) is a Russian, formerly Soviet, Antarctic research station. The station is located at Schirmacher Oasis, Queen Maud Land, 75 km from the Antarctic coast. It was opened on January 18, 1961 by the 6th Soviet Antarctic Expedition. The maximum summer population is 70.
Novolazarevskaya has an airstrip that serves both research-related and commercial flights.

Penguin Flag
Rene73 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Rene73.

Molodezhnaya Antarctic Polar Station
Molodyozhnaya (Молодёжная) was a Soviet research station in Antarctica.
It was opened in February 1962. Between 1970 and 1984 numerous meteorology research sounding rockets, such as the MMR06, were launched from Molodyozhnaya . In 1989, the station was mothballed.
In the 1990s, several scientific and environmental studies were undertaken in the area to fulfill the requirements of the Protocol for the Defence of Nature in the Antarctic Treaty System, but the station wasn't reopened.
The average temperature varies from −19 °C in the coldest months (July-August), to around 0 °C in January.
In February 2006, Valeriy Lukin, the head of the Russian Antarctic Expedition (RAE), said:
There are plans to open the mothballed stations Molodyozhnaya, Leningradskaya and Russkaya in the 2007-2008 season. This will bring great benefits because these stations are located in the Pacific sector of Antarctica, which is poorly covered by scientific studies.

Taylor Glacier
The Taylor Glacier is an Antarctic glacier about 54 kilometres (34 mi) long, flowing from the plateau of Victoria Land into the western end of Taylor Valley, north of the Kukri Hills, south of the Asgard Range. The middle part of the glacier is bounded on the north by the Inland Forts and on the south by Beacon Valley.

Jubany Base
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.

C-121 Lockheed Constellation “Pegasus”
jbottero (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: jbottero.
On October 8, 1970 a C-121 Lockheed Constellation named “Pegasus” crashed at a remote airstrip in Antarctica while attempting to land in near-zero visibility conditions.

Wreck of the C-121 Lockheed Constellation “Pegasus”
On October 8, 1970 a C-121 Lockheed Constellation named “Pegasus” crashed at a remote airstrip in Antarctica while attempting to land in near-zero visibility conditions.

Vinson Massif
fin (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: fin.
Vinson Massif is the highest mountain of Antarctica and one of the Seven Summits.