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Showa Station (Japanese: 昭和基地, Hepburn: Shōwa Kichi), sometimes alternately spelled Syowa Station,[2] is a Japanese permanent research station on East Ongul Island in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. Built in 1957, Showa Station is named for the era in the Japanese calendar during which it was established, the Shōwa period.
Overview
Syowa Station sign in front of the main administration building, December 2018.
Showa Station serves as a research outpost for astronomy, meteorology, biology and earth sciences. It comprises over 60 separate buildings, large and small, including a 3-storey administration building, living quarters, power plant, sewage treatment facility, environmental science building, observatory, data processing facility, satellite building, ionospheric station, incinerator, earth science building, and radiosonde station. Also present are fuel tanks, water storage, solar panels, a heliport, water retention dam, and radio transmitter.
PANSY Incoherent Scatter Radar
Showa station is home to the Program of the Antarctic Syowa Mesosphere–Stratosphere–Troposphere/Incoherent Scatter (PANSY) incoherent scatter radar, which took its first measurements in 2017.[3]
Legacy
1957 Expedition
The station was founded by the inaugural Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition in 1957. This expedition was airlifted out after a storm (by a nearby American ship that had a helicopter). However there was no space for the dogs to get on. The storm made deploying the second team impossible in February 1958. In January 1959, the third team returned to the station and found that, of the 15 sled dogs that had been left by the first team at the base, two, Taro and Jiro, had survived.
Historic monument
A cairn and plaque at the station commemorate Shin Fukushima, a member of the 4th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition, who died in October 1960 while carrying out his duties. The cairn, which contains some of his ashes, was erected on 11 January 1961 by his colleagues. It has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 2) following a proposal by Japan to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.[4]
