Bellingshausen Station

Bellingshausen Station
Antarctic base
Bellingshausen base in winter
Bellingshausen Station Location of Bellingshausen Station in Antarctica
Coordinates: 62°11′55″S 58°57′38″W
Country	Russia
Location in Antarctica	Collins Harbour King George Island South Shetland Islands
Administered by	Russian Antarctic Expedition
Established	22 February 1968 (1968-02-22)
Named for	Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
Elevation [1]	16 m (52 ft)
Population  (2017)[1]
• Summer	40
• Winter	20
UN/LOCODE	AQ BHN
Type	All year-round
Period	Annual
Status	Operational
Activities	List Biology Ecology Flora (lichen studies) Hydrology Ornithology
Website	Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute

Bellingshausen Station (Russian: станция Беллинсгаузен) is a Russian Antarctic station at Collins Harbour, on King George Island of the South Shetland Islands. It was one of the first research stations founded by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1968. It is also the location of Trinity Church, the only permanently staffed Eastern Orthodox church in Antarctica.

The station is connected by unimproved roads to the nearby stations: Chilean Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chinese Great Wall Station, and Uruguayan Artigas Base.[2]

It is antipodal to a location in Russian Siberia, ~400 km west from Yakutsk.

History

Location of King George Island in the South Shetland Islands.

The station is named for the 19th-century Russian explorer of the Antarctic Fabian von Bellingshausen.

In October 2018, it was the site of the first attempted murder in Antarctica.[3]

Climate

The Antarctic Peninsula and its nearby islands are considered to have the mildest living conditions in Antarctica. Bellingshausen Station's climate is strongly influenced by the surrounding ocean.[4] Under the Köppen system, it is one of the few locations in Antarctica classified as a tundra climate rather than an ice cap climate.[5] Variation in temperatures are small with the coldest month, July, averaging −6.5 °C (20.3 °F) and 1.5 °C (34.7 °F) in the warmest month.[6] With only 591.2 hours of sunshine per year, the weather is often unsettled and cloudy throughout the year with precipitation in the form of snow, rain and drizzle occurring often.[4] On average, 729 mm (28.7 in) of precipitation falls per year.[4]

Climate data for Bellingshausen Station (1968–2014)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	3.3 (37.9)	3.3 (37.9)	2.1 (35.8)	0.2 (32.4)	−1.5 (29.3)	−3.1 (26.4)	−3.8 (25.2)	−3.6 (25.5)	−2.0 (28.4)	−0.9 (30.4)	0.4 (32.7)	2.0 (35.6)	−0.3 (31.5)
Daily mean °C (°F)	1.5 (34.7)	1.5 (34.7)	0.4 (32.7)	−1.7 (28.9)	−3.6 (25.5)	−5.6 (21.9)	−6.5 (20.3)	−6.2 (20.8)	−4.4 (24.1)	−2.6 (27.3)	−1.1 (30.0)	0.4 (32.7)	−2.3 (27.9)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	0.1 (32.2)	0.1 (32.2)	−1.3 (29.7)	−3.8 (25.2)	−6.0 (21.2)	−8.3 (17.1)	−9.7 (14.5)	−9.3 (15.3)	−7.1 (19.2)	−4.7 (23.5)	−2.7 (27.1)	−1.0 (30.2)	−4.5 (23.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	54.4 (2.14)	66.4 (2.61)	72.1 (2.84)	65.6 (2.58)	60.6 (2.39)	53.4 (2.10)	60.5 (2.38)	62.1 (2.44)	59.8 (2.35)	54.6 (2.15)	46.7 (1.84)	46.0 (1.81)	702.2 (27.65)
Average relative humidity (%)	87.8	88.8	88.3	88.0	88.2	87.6	88.5	88.6	89.6	88.8	88.4	88.3	88.4
Mean monthly sunshine hours	89.3	66.2	54.4	28.4	13.9	3.8	9.0	28.5	48.1	70.9	83.2	95.5	591.2
Source: Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute[6]

Gallery

• 
  Trinity Church at Bellingshausen
• 
  Interior of Trinity Church
• 
  Bellingshausen in 2012
• 
  Bellingshausen in January 1985
• 
  Bellingshausen at night

In popular culture

On January 21, 2014, American tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle set up an impromptu tattoo station in a scientist's guesthouse where he tattooed his signature tattoo—his autograph—on project assistant/tattoo historian Dr. Anna Felicity Friedman, making him the first person to tattoo on all seven continents.[7][8]

See also

• List of Antarctic field camps
• List of Antarctic research stations

References

1. Antarctic Station Catalogue (PDF) (catalogue). Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs. August 2017. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-473-40409-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
2. USAIT 2006
3. "Antarctica scientist stabbed colleague for spoiling book endings". 30 October 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
4. "Station Bellingshausen". Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. Archived from the original on 16 April 2004. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
5. Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L. & McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen–Geiger climate classification" (PDF). Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11 (5): 1633–1644. Bibcode:2007HESS...11.1633P. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. ISSN 1027-5606.
6. "Bellingshausen Station (89050)". Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. 4 May 2004. Archived from the original on 15 May 2004. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
7. Friedman, Anna Felicity (10 February 2014). "Lyle Tuttle Antarctica 2014 Press Release". tattoohistorian.com. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
8. Friedman, Anna Felicity (23 January 2014). "A History-Assisting Historian? Helping Lyle Tuttle Tattoo on 7 Continents!". tattoohistorian.com. Retrieved 22 February 2019.

External links

• United States Antarctic Inspection Team 2006: Report of Inspections under Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty and Article 14 of the Protocol on Environmental Protection. March 21, 2007(Includes detailed description of this and some nearby stations)
• Official website Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (Archived July 13, 1998, at the Wayback Machine)
• AARI Bellingshausen Station (Archived April 16, 2004, at the Wayback Machine)
• COMNAP Antarctic Facilities (Archived April 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine)
• COMNAP Antarctic Facilities Map (Archived September 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine)
• Bellingshausen Station Photos