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GONDWANA Station in Terra Nova Bay and Lillie Marleen Hut  at Everett Range, northern Victoria Land

23.05.2019 - Article
The Lillie Marleen Hut was erected during the first German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition (GANOVEX I) in 1979/80.
The Lillie Marleen Hut was erected during the first German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition (GANOVEX I) in 1979/80.© Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR)

The German Gondwana Station (74°38' S, 164°13' E) is a non-permanent facility at Gerlache Inlet of Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, operated by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR). It has been used as main logistic base to support BGR’s flagship program GANOVEX (German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition) during numerous expeditions. It was erected during the GANOVEX III expedition in 1982/83 as a bivouac hut and then extended and converted into a summer station during GANOVEX V (1988/89). The main building consists of 16 interconnected 20-foot containers and includes repair, staff and working rooms, a kitchen, sanitary facilities, a generator station and a seawater treatment plant. Scientists are usually accommodated in tents near the station; laboratories are not available. Gondwana Station is accessible by ship or aircraft capable of landing on the sea ice in Terra Nova Bay. The nearest stations are the permanent Jang Bogo Station (Rep. Korea), Mario Zucchelli Station (Italy), McMurdo (USA) and Scott Base on Ross Island. A major renovation and modernization of the station was carried out in the 2015/16 Antarctic season. The modernization of the station has led to an improvement of working conditions, increase of maintenance feasibility, its operating efficiency, and considerable decrease of the environmental impact and the reduction of human footprint by installation of new power engineering facilities with integrated renewable energy systems, new waste management, water supply and water treatment systems. The modernization of the station allows its future operation to continue for at least 25 years as a base for scientific research in Victoria Land.

The Lillie Marleen Hut was erected during the first German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition (GANOVEX I) in 1979/80. The insulated bivouac hut is located in a depression below Mt. Dockery (71°12' S, 164°31' E) in the Everett Range of the Transantarctic Mountains. It is named after the nearby Lillie Glacier and the song “Lili Marleen”. Together with a memorial stone commemorating the sinking of the expedition ship “Gotland II” and abandonment of GANOVEX II (1980/81), this hut was recognized as an “Historic Sites and Monuments in Antarctic ” by the XXVIII. Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) in Stockholm in 2005.

 

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