The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred in 1882–1883. Fifty years later (1932–1933) a second IPY took place. The International Geophysical Year was inspired by the IPY and was organized 75 years after the first IPY (1957–58). The fourth, and most recent, IPY covered two full annual cycles from March 2007 to March 2009.
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.
The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's central governmental institution for scientific research, mapping and environmental monitoring in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The NPI is a directorate under Norway's Ministry of Climate and Environment. The institute advises Norwegian authorities on matters concerning polar environmental management and is the official environmental management body for Norwegian activities in Antarctica.
Oden is a large Swedish icebreaker, built in 1988 for the Swedish Maritime Administration. It is named after the Norse god Odin. First built to clear a passage through the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia for cargo ships, it was later modified to serve as a research vessel. Equipped with its own helicopter and manned by 15 crew members it has ample capacity to carry laboratory equipment and 80 passengers, functioning independently in harsh Polar ice packs of the Arctic and Antarctic seas. It was the first non-nuclear surface vessel to reach the North Pole, together with the German research icebreaker Polarstern. It has participated in several scientific expeditions in Arctic and Antarctica.
Operation Deep Freeze 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.. Given the continuing and constant US presence in Antarctica since that date, "Operation Deep Freeze" has come to be used as a general term for US operations in that continent, and in particular for the regular missions to resupply US Antarctic bases, coordinated by the United States military. Task Force 199 was involved.
The Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south of Cambridge.
Multiple governments have set up permanent research stations in Antarctica and these bases are widely distributed. Unlike the drifting ice stations set up in the Arctic, the research stations of the Antarctic are constructed either on rocks or on ice that are fixed in places.
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on behalf of the UK. It is part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). With over 400 staff, BAS takes an active role in Antarctic affairs, operating five research stations, one ship and five aircraft in both polar regions, as well as addressing key global and regional issues. This involves joint research projects with over 40 UK universities and more than 120 national and international collaborations.
Teodor Gheorghe Negoiță was a polar region explorer. In 1995 he became the first known Romanian explorer to reach the North Pole.
The Great Wall Station is the first Chinese research station in Antarctica and opened on 20 February 1985. It lies on the Fildes Peninsula on King George Island, and is about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) from the Chilean Frei Montalva Station, and 960 kilometres (600 mi) from Cape Horn. The station is sited on ice-free rock, about 10 metres (33 ft) above sea level.
Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski was a Polish geophysicist, meteorologist and explorer.
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).
Students on Ice Foundation is a Canadian charitable organisation that leads educational expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic for international high school and university students. Its mandate is to provide youth, educators and scientists from around the world with learning and teaching opportunities in the polar regions, with the goal of fostering an understanding of, and commitment to building a more sustainable future.
Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) is an international association that develops and promotes best practice in managing the support of scientific research in Antarctica. Members are composed of national research programs who respective governments are signatories to the Antarctic Treaty committing the continent as a natural reserve.
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.
The Wasa Research Station is a Swedish research facility in Antarctica, established in 1988/1989. It is situated next to the Finnish Aboa Research Station on the Basen nunatak in the Kraul Mountains in Queen Maud Land. The two stations cooperate, and are jointly referred to as the Nordenskiöld Base Camp.
The Svea Research Station is a Swedish research facility in Antarctica, established in 1987/1988.
Monika Petra Puskeppeleit is a German physician, public health manager and scientific researcher with special interest in medicine of remote areas, especially polar regions. She is the first German medical doctor and station leader of the first all-woman team to overwinter in Antarctica.
Ernest Frederick "Fred" Roots was a Canadian geologist, polar explorer, educator and public servant. After graduating with undergraduate and master's degrees in geology from the University of British Columbia and a doctorate from Princeton University, Roots joined the Scott Polar Research Institute and was appointed Chief Geologist for the 1949 to 1952 Norwegian–British–Swedish Antarctic Expedition. During the expedition, in addition to ground-breaking geological and glaciological research studies, he made a 189-day, unsupported dog sled journey across the continent; a record that still stood at the time of his death over six decades later. On his return to Canada he joined the Geological Survey of Canada with whom he served as a field geologist until 1958, when he left to help found the Polar Continental Shelf Program. After 14 years with PCSP, Roots left to act as science advisor to the newly created federal Department of the Environment, where he remained on staff until 1989. After retirement, Roots remained an active participant in polar research, and also became a key mentor within the Students on Ice educational program. He continued to participate in expeditions for Students on Ice well into his tenth decade, his last being to Greenland only two months before his death.
Guo Kun was a Chinese polar explorer. He led China's first expedition to Antarctica in 1984–1985 and participated in seven Antarctic expeditions in total. He led the construction of China's first two Antarctic bases, the Great Wall Station in 1985 and the Zhongshan Station in 1989, and served as Director of the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration.
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