Based in Brussels, Belgium, the International Polar Foundation (IPF) communicates and educates on polar science and polar research as a way to understand key environmental and climate mechanisms. [1] The foundation also promotes innovative and multifaceted responses to the complex challenges raised by the need for action on sustainable development, and designed, built and operates the first zero emission Antarctic scientific research station Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. The IPF was founded in 2002 by polar explorer Alain Hubert, Hugo Decleir and André Berger. [2]
Mathilde is Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Philippe. She is the first native-born Belgian queen. She has founded and assisted charities to decrease poverty in the country.
Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery was a Belgian officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99.
New Swabia was a disputed Antarctic claim by Nazi Germany within the Norwegian territorial claim of Queen Maud Land and is now a cartographic name sometimes given to an area of Antarctica between 20°E and 10°W in Queen Maud Land. New Swabia was explored by Germany in early 1939 and named after that expedition's ship, Schwabenland, itself named after the German region of Swabia.
The United States Antarctic Program is an organization of the United States government which has a presence in the Antarctica continent. Founded in 1959, the USAP manages all U.S. scientific research and related logistics in Antarctica as well as aboard ships in the Southern Ocean.
Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, is the heiress apparent to the Belgian throne. The eldest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, she was elevated to the dukedom after her grandfather King Albert II abdicated in favour of her father on 21 July 2013.
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including the Southern Ocean.
The Law-Racoviță-Negoiță Station, known only as the Law-Racoviță Station until 2011, is the first Romanian station for research and exploration in Antarctica, named after the Romanian explorer Emil Racoviță and inaugurated on January 13, 2006 at the location of a station constructed in 1986 by Australia and donated to Romania. The station may be found in Princess Elizabeth Land, in the Larsemann Hills, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) away from China's Antarctic Zhongshan Station.
Troll is a Norwegian research station located at Jutulsessen, 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. It is Norway's only all-year research station in Antarctica, and is supplemented by the summer-only station Tor. Troll is operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute and also features facilities for the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research.
Troll Airfield is an airstrip located 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi) from the research station Troll in Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. Owned and operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute, it consists of a 3,300-by-100-metre runway on glacial blue ice on the Antarctic ice sheet. The airport is located at 1,232 metres (4,042 ft) above mean sea level and is 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast.
Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, located on Utsteinen Nunatak in Queen Maud Land, is a Belgian scientific polar research station, which went into service on 15 February 2009.
Kunlun Station is the southernmost of four Chinese research stations in Antarctica. When it is occupied during the summer, it is the second-southernmost research base in Antarctica, behind only the American Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station at the geographical South Pole. When Kunlun is not in operation, the year-round Russian Vostok Station is the second-southernmost base in Antarctica.
Queen Maud Land is a roughly 2.7-million-square-kilometre (1.0-million-square-mile) region of Antarctica claimed by Norway as a dependent territory. It borders the claimed British Antarctic Territory 20° west and the Australian Antarctic Territory 45° east. In addition, a small unclaimed area from 1939 was annexed in June 2015. Positioned in East Antarctica, it makes out about one-fifth of the continent, and is named after the Norwegian queen Maud of Wales (1869–1938).
Jutulsessen is a nunatak in the Gjelsvik Mountains in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. It is located in Princess Martha Coast, 235 kilometers (146 mi) from the King Haakon VII Sea. Jutulsessen is the site of the Norwegian research station Troll and the affiliated Troll Satellite Station, which has two radomes on top of the mountain. Troll Airfield is located in the vicinity.
Laborelec is a research center and technical service provider with 250 researchers and experts, specialized in electrical power technology and sustainable energy. The company is based in Linkebeek near Brussels, Belgium and has branch offices in Maastricht, Netherlands and Wuppertal, Germany. It was established in 1962, from a merger of the laboratories of Sofina, Interescaut and the Belgian Electrotechnical Committee (BEC/CEB), in order to support Belgian electricity companies with research, development and specialized services.
Baron Gaston de Gerlache de Gomery was a Belgian polar explorer.
Belgium was one of the 12 countries that initially negotiated and signed the Antarctic Treaty.
Georges Lecointe was a Belgian naval officer and scientist. He was captain of the Belgica and second-in-command of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, the first to overwinter in Antarctica. After his return to Belgium he was the founder of the International Polar Organization and deeply involved in the foundation of the International Research Council and the International Astronomical Union.
Research stations in Queen Maud Land are connected by the Dronning Maud Land Air Network Project (DROMLAN), which is a cooperative agreement for transportation between eleven nations with research stations in East Antarctica. Long-range aircraft fly between Cape Town, South Africa and either the Troll Airfield, located at the Troll research station, or the runway at the Novolazarevskaya Station. From these two main airfields, smaller aircraft may fly further to other Antarctic destinations.
Alain Hubert is a Belgian explorer. He is a certified mountain and polar guide, a civil engineer, and the founder President of the International Polar Foundation. With the Foundation and its private partners, he built and financed the construction of the scientific research station ‘Princess Elisabeth’. This station is the first ‘Zero Emissions’ station in Antarctica, designed under the spirit of the Madrid protocol system establishing in 1992 the strictest environmental rules to date for a continent through the Antarctic Treaty System.
Annick Wilmotte is a Belgian Antarctic researcher, best known for her research on the diversity and ecology of Antarctic cyanobacterial microflora. A genus of Antarctic cyanobacteria, called Wilmottia was named after her in recognition of her work in this field.