The New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme (NZARP) was a research programme that operated a permanent research facility in Antarctica from 1959 to 1996. It was created by the Geophysics Division of New Zealand's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), originally based in Wellington. The programme promoted research in geochemistry, zoology, geology, botany, meteorology, and limnology.
NZARP began as a proposal by the New Zealand government, in 1953, for a research base in Antarctica. [1] Its mission was to provide support for a variety of scientific fieldwork in Antarctica. Members worked as researchers, assistants, tour guides, operators, and administrators to Scott Base.
Ground was broken for Scott Base on 10 January 1957. Assembly of the base began 12 January, conducted by the eight men who first assembled the base in Wellington, and was completed by 20 January. [2] In 1959, the NZARP was established to work with the Ross Dependency Research Committee in the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's claim to a defined sector in Antarctica). [3] In 1962, because of the important research being conducted, Scott Base became a permanent research station in Antarctica. The NZARP was in charge of maintaining the base. [3] They hired people to act as field safety leaders and assist scientists during research projects. [4]
When the DSIR was broken up to form the Crown Research Institutes in 1992, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research took over the NZARP.
In 1967, the first tetrapod remains in Antarctica were discovered by New Zealander Peter Barrett, his finding eventually lending support to the theory of continental drift. Two years later, in 1969, an NZARP party of six women became the first women to reach the South Pole. [3] Some more of NZARP's discoveries include, Ball Glacier, Atkinson Glacier, Findlay Range, Thomas Heights, and Mount Bradshaw.
In 1996, the New Zealand Antarctic Institute—also known as Antarctica New Zealand—took over the work of the NZARP. They now manage all of New Zealand's Antarctic undertakings. [3] Only three buildings remain from the original base. [update] The New Zealand Antarctic Institute also manages other research facilities, in the McMurdo Sound region, such as the Arrival Heights laboratory, which does atmospheric research. [2]
A two-storey, 1,800-square-metre (19,000 sq ft) building was constructed in 2005, as a commissioned work by Antarctica New Zealand. This building, known as the Hillary Field Centre, provides an area for cargo receipt and issue, general and refrigerated storages, offices, gym, briefing and training rooms, and field equipment maintenance among many other uses. Because of this new building, New Zealand's science and environmental programs have been able to expand and improve through the years. [1]
The Balleny Islands are a series of uninhabited islands in the Southern Ocean extending from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E. The group extends for about 160 km (99 mi) in a northwest-southeast direction. The islands are heavily glaciated and of volcanic origin. Glaciers project from their slopes into the sea. The islands were formed by the so-called Balleny hotspot.
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 by the other six countries with territorial claims in Antarctica. Under the 1961 Antarctic Treaty, of which all territorial claimants are signatories, including New Zealand, all claims are held in abeyance. Article IV states: "No acts or activities taking place while the present Treaty is in force shall constitute a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica or create any rights of sovereignty in Antarctica".
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 United States Antarctic Program (USAP), a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,500 residents, and serves as one of three year-round United States Antarctic science facilities. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo. McMurdo Station continues to operate as the hub for American activities on the Antarctic continent. By road, McMurdo is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from New Zealand's smaller Scott Base.
Scott Base is a New Zealand Antarctic research station at Pram Point on Ross Island near Mount Erebus in New Zealand's Ross Dependency territorial claim. It was named in honour of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, RN, leader of two British expeditions to the Ross Sea area of Antarctica. The base was set up as support to field research and the centre for research into earth sciences, and now conducts research in many fields, operated by Antarctica New Zealand.
Vanda Station was an Antarctic research base in the western highlands of the Ross Dependency, specifically on the shore of Lake Vanda, at the mouth of Onyx River, in the Wright Valley.
This is a timeline of the history of New Zealand's involvement with Antarctica.
Antarctica New Zealand is an Institute set up by the Government of New Zealand in 1996 to manage its interests in Antarctica and the Ross Sea. As well as providing logistics support to a large scientific programme, it also runs bases such as Scott Base. It has run other bases in the past, such as Vanda Station.
The Realm of New Zealand is the area over which the monarch of New Zealand is head of state. The realm is not a federation but is a collection of states and territories united under its monarch. New Zealand is an independent and sovereign state that has one territory in Antarctica, one dependent territory (Tokelau), and two associated states. The Realm of New Zealand encompasses the three autonomous jurisdictions of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, and Niue.
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research or NIWA, is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. Established in 1992, NIWA conducts research across a broad range of disciplines in the environmental sciences. It also maintains nationally and, in some cases, internationally important environmental monitoring networks, databases, and collections.
Mulock Glacier in Antarctica is a heavily crevassed glacier which flows into the Ross Ice Shelf 40 kilometers south of the Skelton Glacier in the Ross Dependency, Antarctica.
The New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) describes a series of scientific explorations of the continent Antarctica. The expeditions were notably active throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) is a now-defunct government science agency in New Zealand, founded in 1926 and broken into Crown Research Institutes in 1992.
Tourism started in Antarctica by the sea in the 1960s. Air overflights started in the 1970s with sightseeing flights by airliners from Australia and New Zealand, and were resumed in the 1990s. The (summer) tour season lasts from November to March. Most of the estimated 14,762 visitors to Antarctica from 1999–2000 were on sea cruises. During the 2009 to 2010 tourist season, over 37,000 people visited Antarctica.
Arrival Heights are clifflike heights which extend in a north-east–south-west direction along the west side of Hut Point Peninsula, just north of Hut Point in Ross Island, Antarctica. They were discovered and named by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Robert Falcon Scott. The name suggests the expedition's arrival at its winter headquarters at nearby Hut Point.
William Henry Robinson was a New Zealand scientist and seismic engineer who invented the lead rubber bearing seismic isolation device. He grew up in West Auckland, New Zealand. He earned a master's degree at the Ardmore School of Engineering, then a PhD in physical metallurgy at the University of Illinois. Robinson was director of the DSIR's Physics and Engineering Laboratory between 1985 and 1991. He continued to invent and develop seismic isolation devices, travel and lecture until his early 70s.
Peter John Barrett is a New Zealand geologist who came to prominence after discovering the first tetrapod fossils in Antarctica in 1967.
Nancy Bertler is an Antarctic researcher, who has led major initiatives to investigate climate history using Antarctic ice cores, and best known for her leadership of the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution Programme (RICE). She is a full professor at the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.
Gillian Shirley Wratt is a New Zealand botanist and science administrator. She was the first woman director of the New Zealand Antarctic Programme (1992–1996) and made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Antarctica.
Timothy George Haskell is a New Zealand scientist.
Jonathan Robert White was a New Zealand landscape artist. Largely self-taught, his work is recognised both in New Zealand and internationally, and is held in many public and private collections across the world. White painted professionally for over 50 years and held many solo and joint exhibitions; he died two weeks before his final exhibition was held in Invercargill.
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