Saturday 21 August 2010

Belgian station in Antarctica

a Thule for the future

The Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica.

Coordinates 71° 57’ S, 23° 20’E

The belgian Princess Elisabeth Station was officially inaugurated on the 15th February 2009.

It's the first "zero emission" station ever, the world's first polar station run entirely on renewable energy.

The Station has been pre-built in Brussels, where it has been on show before it gets shipped down to the Antarctic.

http://www.antarcticstation.org/

The Princess Elisabeth Station will also offer a certain level of comfort which will, after a tough day of work, surely be welcomed.

Utsteinen, a village of tents

The Belgian station on Antarctica is situated 300 m North of Utsteinen nunatak, on a small relatively flat granite ridge, sticking out of the snow. The ridge is 700 m long and a few meters large and elevates 20 m above the surrounding snow surface in the accumulation zone. Closeby is the so called Ulsteinen village, a camp where the scientific crew used to live and work.

The local pub

Princess Elisabeth station in the sunlight